Bode 1

Ella Bode
Mrs. Sluder
Intermediate Dance
18 December 2016
Outside Dance Critique
For my outside dance critique, I saw Artistic Motion's Friday, December 16th performance of
The Snow Queen. Overall, it was a fantastic show, and I enjoyed it very much. Artistic Motion's
production differed greatly from other ballets I have seen. In addition to having a dance school, they
also have an acting school, so, The Snow Queen, involved both dancing and acting. There would be a
few dancing scenes, followed by an acting scene that told the story of The Snow Queen, in an
interesting way.
In the opening scene of the ballet, titled A Small Scandinavian Town, choreographed by Katrina
Blose, we get introduced to the inhabitants of the town, and the two main characters, Kai and Gerda.
There were many ages of dancers, and many of the younger ones seemed to not know the choreography
entirely. Often they would look at the girls behind them, causing the a pull in focus from the
performance. Also, Gerda's pointe shoes were very frayed on the bottom, so whenever she went up on
pointe, it looked like something was wrong with either her shoes or feet. I believe that the
choreographer's intent was to showcase this small town as an innocent place, with all of the children
playing and dancing. Overall, I believe that the audience's perception lined up with the choreographer's
intent quite well. This scene actually reminded me of the party scene in, The Nutcracker, because of all
of the little girls playing, and the quality of the movement being so similar. The dancers in this piece
did a great job of acting through their movement, as well as using their carriage.
Fall Turns to Winter, choreographed by Katrina Blose, was a scene in which dancers portraying
Fall, danced like the season, until Winter dancers came and changed the season. The dancers in this

Bode 2
piece were younger than the more advanced dancers, so obviously their technique was not as great.
Fall Turns to Winter, was more of a contemporary piece, rather than ballet. The dancers never stretched
through their feet completely, and their arms all seemed to be differently contorted in ways that they
should not have been. On the other hand, the performers in this number had the most enthusiasm thus
far in the production. Their focus pulled me in very deep. My friend, who is not a dancer, accompanied
me to the performance, and she agreed with me that their focus was spectacular. Golden like leaves,
with splashes of dark orange, the costumes added yet another great element to this dance. This scene
reminded me of a painting, the dancers like brushstrokes on a canvas, working together to create a
beautiful canvas.
The Garden of Endless Summer, choreographed by Katrina Blose, was the scene where Gerda,
is searching for Kai, her best friend, and she comes upon a garden, in the dead of winter, where it is
summer. Gerda dances through the flowers until she notices an Old Sorceress, who makes things
difficult for Gerda. The dancing flowers acted as the corps, although like Fall Turns to Winter, this was
another contemporary-like piece. The dancers had sharp spotting in their turns, and a lot of passion.
However, the extensions of the flowers were lacking, along with the ability to lengthen their arms into a
cohesive position. I believe that the choreographer's intent was to show flowers acting graceful, but
then going into a frenzy attacking Gerda, caused by the Old Sorceress. Although I was very confused
with what was going on and the intent of the flowers. This scene reminded me of The Waltz of the
Snowflakes, in my production of The Nutcracker, because the patterns of intense frenzied movements
were very similar.
The Snow Queen, was an amazing production to watch, and it was very interesting to be on the
other side of the stage. The main choreographer, Katrina Blose, did an exceptional job, and so did the
dancers. I will look forward to seeing this production another time in the future!