Another Language Performing Arts Company

Elizabeth A. Miklavcic - Performance Roles

June 26, 1993 - Utah Arts Festival, Festi-Live Stage, Salt Lake City, Utah

What? (1993)

Choreographer: Elizabeth A. Miklavcic
Music: Jimmy H. Miklavcic
Costuming: Elizabeth A. Miklavcic
Lighting: Jimmy H. Miklavcic
Dancers: Michael Larkin, Elizabeth A. Miklavcic
Location: Festi-Live Stage, Delta Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
Length: 8:49 minutes

Description
June 23-26, 1993, Another Language Performance Art Company was once again featured at the Utah Arts Festival's Delta Center Stage. The placement of this stage was in the north-east corner of the Delta Center, a huge facility built for the Utah Jazz Basketball team.

What? was performed for this concert by Elizabeth Miklavcic and Michael Larkin. This is one of the most powerful performances of this dance and thankfully preserved on video. Michael Larkin had danced with Another Language for three years and this evening, June 26, 1993 was his final performance for the Company.

What? was originally choreographed by Elizabeth Miklavcic in 1984. It was a dance making a statement about communication. The meaning of the dance morphed, simply by the casting into 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 results in more and more aggressive movement, until at the end of the dance they just break and stop trying.

The costuming was stripped down to simple black tee-shirts and black pants. The stage was simple with only a black curtain at the back of the black raised platform. All these elements contributed to focusing on the movement and the performance of the work with no fancy effects.

Elizabeth remembers this performance very clearly and she is so grateful for having the experience of dancing with such a talented artist. This was one of the major performances for her, returning to the stage after a severe ankle injury that sidelined her for almost a year. She worked really hard to get back to this performance level. What? is an extremely challenging dance and it is very difficult to perform. 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 and the dance began.

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.