Grad students perform mash of social commentary

Fluid beating drums, a man on stilts, a remote Ghanaian village
and a testosterone-induced rendition of Whitney Houston’s
“I Will Always Love You.” With three media, two
different dancing styles and a melding of expressions, a night of
performance can become a strongly humorous journey of
reflection.

This unexpected dance concert showing tonight through Jan. 22 is
the MFA Upstarts Series Concert “Out of Place: An Evening of
Dance, Theater and Video.”

The program is produced by the UCLA World Arts and Culture
Department as part of its MFA Upstarts Series. “Out of
Place” is a shared evening of new dance, theater and video
work by UCLA MFA candidates Iddi Saaka and Liam Clancy.

Saaka is a dancer and choreographer from Ghana, and Clancy
emerged from the American post-modern dance and theater world.
Aesthetically, these two artists’ movement styles are
extremely different. However, dancing together at UCLA has led them
to discover a shared passion for strong physicality, intimate
storytelling and humor.

“Out of Place” opens with a duet merging Ghanaian
and post-modern dance, and exploring Saaka and Clancy’s
friendship. With no theoretical basis for this piece, the
influences of each individual are present but not defined.

“We have been studying each other’s movements, so
this piece is a reflection of the fluidity of our movement
together,” Saaka said. “We just decided to move. There
are no limitations or borders.”

Saaka’s individual piece combines live drumming and video
with 11 musicians and dancers to embark on a journey from his
village in Africa to America and back. Living in the United States
has allowed Saaka to reflect upon his experiences in his village,
and these reflections are addressed critically and humorously
through artistic performance.

“Presenting ideas about different races is a hard topic,
and I deal with this by incorporating humor to make it easier for
my audience to absorb,” Saaka said. “Beneath the
comedic lens, there are underlying issues.”

Saaka’s story examines Ghanaian society as a reflection of
colonialism by satirically presenting attitudes about race and
ethnicity, and myths surrounding wealth.

Clancy’s section consists of two different pieces: a dance
for the camera, and a solo performance. He choreographed and shot a
dance about the moment of goodbye involving two dancers, four
cameras, a doorway and seven unique angles.

“We take a lot for granted in that moment,” Clancy
said. “I wanted to look at the importance of small rituals
between people.”

Clancy decided to use the technology of video in order to
capture the intimacy and delicate nature of the dance, and to
manifest the specificity of salutations in time.

“When you come see a live dance, you see it once and
it’s gone. In the video, the choreographer can focus on
specific elements of the dance: on a hand, or just the torso
moving,” Clancy said.

Through the lens of solo-autobiographical performance work,
Clancy’s second piece explores the limitations of memory
within a personal framework, extending a broader message about the
culture of male violence and society’s expectations of
men.

With five recorded songs, lounge singing, stilts and a piano,
Clancy employs a different kind of humor.

“My piece is a mix between circus, stand-up comedy, a
little bit of vaudeville, and of course dance and theater,”
Clancy said with a laugh.

Lending itself to the title of the concert, both stories are
about two men’s journeys as they define themselves in a
specific time and place of uncertainty. Yet, with these powerful
and sometimes daunting issues of self-discovery, conformity and
racial disparity, Saaka and Clancy allow the audience to laugh in
the face of controversy.

“Humor is a good way to let the audience be at ease and
breathe a little,” Clancy said. “But underneath, the
pieces are the confessions of issues of personal and societal
significance. By poking fun at myself, I poke fun at
society.”