Another Language Performing Arts Company

Elizabeth A. Miklavcic - Choreographic Works

What? - April 21, 1995

What? (1995)

Choreographer: Elizabeth A. Miklavcic
Music: Jimmy H. Miklavcic
Costuming: Elizabeth A. Miklavcic
Lighting: Jimmy H. Miklavcic
Dancers: Elizabeth A. Miklavcic, Spencer John Powell
Location: Judge Memorial High School, 650 South 1100 East, Salt Lake City, Utah
Length: 8:48 minutes

Description
What? was originally choreographed by Elizabeth Miklavcic in 1984. It is a statement about communication, miscommunication, and missed communication. By casting a man and a woman in the roles, the meaning of the dance had morphed into focusing on the difficulty of communication between a man and a woman. These two people try to communicate amongst themselves and the greater world. They are unable to be heard, and unable to hear each other. As the inability to communicate continues, the frustration builds and this results in more and more aggressive movement, until at the end of the dance they just break and stop trying.

This variation continued using the simple costuming of black tee-shirts and black pants. The staging was, also, simple with only a black curtain at the back of the raised proscenium stage. The lighting was designed to enhance the dancers, with spots for the solos and side lighting when the duet section began. All these elements contributed to focusing on the movement and the performance of the work with no fancy effects.

Danced by Spencer John Powell and Elizabeth Miklavcic, the 1995 version of What? was staged as part of a retrospective of some of the best and most interesting dance and interdisciplinary works for the Another Language Performing Arts Company tenth anniversary concert, Stepping Into the Light.

The original performance of What? took place in 1984, and was performed by Susie McGee-Lowdermilk and Esther Burchinal for an Experimental Floss performance organized by Tina Karlsson, Jimmy & Elizabeth Miklavcic, held at the Salt Lake Art Center, now called the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA). The Experimental Floss performances were pre-Another Language variety show concerts that took place from 1982-1985.

The April 21 and 22, 1995, Another Language Performing Arts Company concert held at Judge Memorial High School in Salt Lake City was to be the last time Elizabeth performed this dance. She knew that she could no longer continue to maintain the intensive training and physicality required to execute this challenging work. It took a certain type of dancer to pull off this piece. One with courage, skill, and the physical strength to make this choreography work. Elizabeth always felt like the start of this dance was like jumping off a high-dive once Jimmy Miklavcic's music started playing. This made her final performance of What? bittersweet, and this would, in fact, be the final staging of her wonderful, unique, and powerful dance.

What? A Choreographic Evolution DVD traces this dance from its inception in 1984 through its final performance in 1995. The project DVD is free to educators upon request and is also available in the Education-Interactive area of AnotherLanguage.org.