“Autumn Perspective” is the first of four concerts to be performed this academic year in the Ohio State Department of Dance.

Eran Hanlon and Julie Fox, students in the Master of Fine Arts program, will share the stage Nov. 5 through 7 in Sullivant Theatre, with Hanlon’s “The Anathema Project” and Fox’s “Boxes in Bags.” They both worked on their concepts for some time, and felt ready to go ahead of their colleagues in the academic year.

“‘The Anathema Project’ is a multimedia dance theater solo performed by me that explores Samuel Beckett’s short play, ‘Footfalls’ amidst the surreal landscape of Salvador Dali’s painting Girafe en Feu,” said Hanlon, the recipient of the Helen Alkire Scholarship and Alumni Grants for Graduate Research and Scholarship funding.

“This reimagined piece follows the dark and seemingly non-sequitur memories of a protagonist. Through the embodiment of rapid changing states of being, ‘The Anathema Project’ delves into a nonlinear narrative shadowed by family trauma, chronic illness and loss,” Hanlon said.

Hanlon not only produced “The Anathema Project,” he also created streaming video for it and an ambient sound score. “Through the video and sound, the piece aimed to heighten that which is sacred yet rejected in a world of otherness,” Hanlon said.

Working on the final projects required both a fresh and solid idea and help to make the idea work.

“I am collaborating with graduate committee members, voice specialists, movement and acting coaches, filmmakers and editors, music composers, lighting designers, costume and makeup artists, and production and technology specialists,” Hanlon said.

There are a lot of challenges when it comes to preparation, especially with so many people working together.

Asked about the biggest challenge he faced during production, Hanlon said, “Communication is always a challenge… from the perspective of conveying through words and movement.

“Also, as a soloist, there is a unique intensity to the rehearsal process in that a sole person is ultimately conveying the piece. For me personally, I have been faced with accessing resources inside and outside of myself without the presence of other dancers to support dynamics, intention and motivation.”

Fox will present her “Boxes of Bags” in the concert as well.

“I’m thinking about the objects we interact with and thinking about it like a metaphor,” Fox said. “You carry your possesions in bags, and there is the metaphor of emotional baggage. Bags are a symbol of ownership. There are a lot of different ideas coming from that. Boxes are very similar. We live in houses, which are like boxes, and we communicate through a box, such as a computer.”

The process of creating and presenting her work also required a lot of help and interaction as well.

“I am working with the composer, who will play live in the piece,” Fox said. “I have seven performers who are dancing; two are primarily musicians, and there are five undergraduate students. They are interacting throughout the entire work. It’s not like the musicians are sitting in a corner. They are actually mobile. They are performers as well.

“The main language I’m working is movement, and on top of that, throughout the piece there is text. The [performers] are singing, there is live music, and there is a set that I’m playing with and manipulating. It’s like a mobile piece of architecture.”

Fox said that she hoped the audience will be entertained, and at the same time be forced to think about the implications of her piece.

Sullivant Theatre is in Sullivant Hall at 1813 N. High St. The concert starts Nov. 5 through 7 at 8 p.m.