Dance company to perform this weekend

By Nicole Arias
Staff Writer

Modern dance company Project INMOTION will perform at 4 p.m. Sunday at Fowler Hall.

The members of the group are all dance instructors and include Debra Knapp, Stephanie Scopelitis, Heidi Phillips, Randy Strickler and Hilary McDaniel-Douglas.

Knapp said the group members are as diverse as their dance styles.

For instance, Phillips’ background is in classical ballet, Knapp teaches a body placement class at Butler University and Scopelitis is a former dancer of an internationally-known dance group Nikolais.

Sunday's performance will be about one and one-half hours long and will consist of eight pieces.

McDaniel-Douglas said their dances vary from everyday movements to lyrical movement synthesized in their own vision.

"The people in the audience should enjoy what they see and be open to some artistic insight into themselves," she said.

The members of Project INMOTION have known each other for a number of years; some studied under the same dance instructor while attending Indiana University.

Since the group’s establishment about one year ago, it has performed in several Indiana cities such as Fort Wayne, Bloomington, Richmond and Indianapolis.

Animated motion-capture videos, which are computer graphics that translate a dancer’s movements to color and light, are sometimes used in the backdrop of performances.

They use that backdrop because "the piece asks for it," Knapp said.

"Every artist tries to find the words that best bring meaning to what we want to say," she said.

The dance company is now going through the process of becoming a non-for-profit organization because it is project, not performance oriented, which means the group enjoys conducting workshops and teaching as opposed to being exclusively performers.

Despite this, the group has arranged future performances in New York City and has been offered to do a show in Chicago in the summer.

Tickets for the performance are available at Von’s Records and cost $10 for the general public and $5 for students.

Jeff Ellis, assistant manager at Von’s Records, said in the week tickets have been available, only a dozen tickets have been sold.

"Ticket sales always go up a couple of days before an event," he said. "We expect to sell another 20 to 25 more."

Tickets will also be available at the door on Sunday.

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