Catherine M. Pratt

Look Here! is part of the Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow dance concert at UNLV. 
 

In this piece, Adams wanted to focus on color psychology and how we are taught to relate colors to certain meanings and associations. Within the world of color, it assumes an identity that we can relate to ourselves. Adams also wanted to explore stripping away color before showing how overpowering color can be. In the end, she wanted red to become the dominant color, shifting the colors around it. A costume change was choreographed into the piece to show red taking over the other colors. 

The lighting first started with down pools highlighting each color of the dancers’ costumes. This brought out the individual identity of each color before colors started to take over each other as dominant and recessive tones. In the first part of the piece, dynamic lighting shifts of colors on the back wall with changes in sidelight intensity highlighted the power color has over us. In a moment, color can shift how we perceive the environment. A blue background evoked a feeling of comfort. Yet, a second later, a red background brought forth aggression and heightened energy in the room. 

With a music change in the middle of the piece, color was pulled from the space. White lighting filled the room to take away color, allowing the viewer to interpret the identities of the costume colors in various groupings. Yellow and green shared the stage before blue and lavender teamed up. As these small groups worked in various combinations, color was slowly added back, focusing on the dominant colors of the pair. Blue took over for a moment before red entered the space again. Red, symbolically the color that holds the most meanings and represents power, took over for the piece. Using the influence lighting can have over costumes, red dominated the space, slowly altering the other colors. To end, a costume change occurred, allowing all dancers to end in the color red to further drive home the change in identity and the power color can have over an environment.