Former faculty member returns for performance

Humor is an often-neglected element in art. For dancer and choreographer Monica Bill Barnes, however, it is an integral part of keeping audiences interested. In her duet “Suddenly Summer Somewhere,” which she will perform with Anna Bass on Friday and Saturday evening at the Grace Street Theater, humor and quirk are widely utilized to express how time can affect the relationship between two people.

The New York City-based dancer is in residence this week at VCU’s department of dance and choreography, teaching modern dance technique, workshops and a class for the non-VCU community, culminating in the performances at the end of the week.

In the spring of 2007, Barnes was in residence at VCU for seven weeks, making this week an opportunity to catch up with the faculty and the students she then taught.?

“I had a really wonderful time,” Barnes said. “I’m just so looking forward to coming back to VCU.”

Dance and choreography department producer Lea Marshall said she is enthusiastic about the dancer’s return, noting Barnes’ broad appeal as a choreographer and the large amount of publicity she has received for her quirky and theatrical style.

“We appreciated her work and wanted her back,” Marshall said.

Barnes developed “Suddenly Summer Somewhere” with the freshmen she taught in 2007 and premiered it in New York in 2008. Quirkiness is ever-present in the work, and its unpredictability is what Barnes considers one of the piece’s most exciting characteristics.

“Keeping the audience on their toes keeps them engaged,” Barnes said. “Unexpected elements help to continue to invite the audience into the experience.”

Barnes said she hopes her work can have different meanings for different people. A sense of theatricality and the use of familiar elements make the work relatable to audiences. The pair’s costumes, for example, are simple robes, to provide a blank palette for each viewer’s unique interpretation.

Freshman dance and choreography major Tessa Anton is attending a class taught by Barnes every day this week. For Anton, the experience is not only an opportunity to improve her dance technique but also to observe a different teaching perspective.

“Everyone has a different viewpoint,” Anton said after her first class with Barnes on Monday. “She approaches class a different way.”

Barnes’ fresh teaching style parallels her unique style of dance, Anton said.

It was a very different way of approaching movement,” Anton said. “It was very visually appealing.”