VERTICAL DANCE AT VEDAUWOO
'Sam' Wisely flying free over the audience
The History: EARLY BEGINNINGS TO THE PRESENT
In
1922, Maybelle Land DeKay, a child prodigy in her own right, and then a Drama
and English Professor at the University of Wyoming, found what she was looking
for, a perfect natural amphitheatre in a very primitive setting roughly 20 miles
east of
Laramie. Her
vision was to produce a play in the out of doors describing the history of Wyoming, from the
cataclysmic birth of its rugged mountains to the coming of civilization.
Fascinated with Indian legend and myth of the region, she wanted to give her pagaent an Indian name.
Newspaper articles of the time describe how she sought out the Arapahoe
and asked them what their word for 'earthborn' was, coming up with "bi-ito'o'wu".
This was then anglicized to "vedauwoo" (now pronounced 'vee-da-voo'). The pagaent was of rather grandiose scale,
containing some 500 fanciful and historic characters and was written in 5 long
episodes. 'Grand Teton', god of the mountains, was advisor to Vedauwoo, who
was smitten with the goddess Wyoming, and on it goes. Of course at th
at
time, there were no roads into the area, so oxen-drawn plows were
employed to level an access path into 'Vedauwoo Glen'. During the play, boulders were rolled
down the cliffs to signify thunder and fireworks were exploded to simulate
volcanic activity. A live musical score was orchestrated. The
original play drew spectators numbering in the hundreds (nearly 1,500 once) from
as far away as Denver, Kansas and Nebraska. Despite great enthusiasm, the
play was held only twice at Vedauwoo, in 1926 and 1928. It was held
indoors at the University two other seasons because of inclement weather. Shortly
thereafter, Ms. DeKay was divorced from her husband and was subsequently
terminated
from the University Faculty, ending what was considered a quantal leap in
theatrical production. As incredible as it sounds today, it was against
the law (back then) for a single woman to be employed in a State funded
position. Her untimely departure from the University signified the end of
the production, but the strange and evocative name derived for the play and used
for the area as well remains to this day.
Early
in 1997, a spark was rekindled (J. J.) at the University to
recreate the pagaent with a more contemporary twist. Under the
extraordinary and creative leadership of Ms. Rebecca Hilliker, Chairperson
of the Department of Theatre and Dance, a more modern version of the original play was produced,
with inventive choreography by Margaret Wilson. Over the next
year, while care was taken to retain much of the original spirit of the play,
characters were 'updated' to appeal to a more modern audience and an original
musical score was written by Kevin Hart. Technical rock climbing
and vertical dance techniques were integrated into the script by Neil Humphrey (Prof. of Geophysics) who anticipated
suspending several
actors/students high on the rocks overhanging the audience where they would perform gymnastic dance routines, creating a
rather spectacular supporting theme. Margaret, Neil and 'Sam' Wisely are
seen
in the shot at right striking a pose during a
practice session that was
snowed out. I was responsible for rigging most of the ropes, setting
protection on the vertical walls and overall safety
of the production. The first performance took place in
September of 1998 to an audience of over 400 spectators. While moderately
successful, it foretold of better things to come. The performance emphasized more
aerial improvisation in 1999 and many more tickets were sold. The
2000
performance was based on the new concept of "vertical dance" (somewhat
reminiscent of Project Bandaloop) and was performed mostly on the
Coke Bottle
formation to the west of Fall Wall. The 2001
performance, entitled "Life
in the Balance",
occurred on September 9th. A blend of creative acting and dance was
performed on
the ground, and overhead there was free-floating balletic and gymnastic movement
in three dimensional space against a backdrop of Vedauwoo's highly unusual
rockforms. Since then, the Production
has evolved into an 'annual summer event' at Vedauwoo. In 2009, the
audience totaled nearly 1800 and the performance was nominated for the Wyoming Arts Council's prestigious Governor's Arts Award.
H A V E Y O U M I S S E D I T ?
The Vedauwoo Vertical Dance Festival is really something to see if you're so inclined!! It is a continuing event during the late summer season at Vedauwoo. Contact the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Wyoming if you are interested in the academic program, next year's performance or other details.
Here are a few earlier shots of this
** See more on www.vedauwoo.org !!!
Copyright © 2002-2009 JwHarper, All Rights Reserved