Lar Lubovitch: Bringing His Vision To Light
The dancers held their arms in position like those of a T-Rex, their elbows attached to their sides. Their hands dangling in front of their stomachs, bending at the wrists and swinging back and forth, they ran through the circling sequence. Drops of sweat trickled down their foreheads and backs, coating their shirts with a visible layer of moisture. Lar Lubovitch sat at the front of the studio, at the edge of his seat, his heels lifted off of the floor as his toes kept time with the music. He folded his hands together anxiously as he analyzed his dancers moving through the sequence, preparing for the Claire Trevor School of Arts’ annual production, Dance Visions, which these dancers performed Feb. 22 to 25, Thursday through Saturday of last week.
Lubovitch originally choreographed his piece “Marimba” in 1976. It is a traditional trance dance — rhythmic dancing sequences that are used to reach a new state of consciousness. This was one of the first dances created with minimalist music. The song by Steve Reich that accompanies “Marimba” is what Lubovitch called “a revolutionary, radical move in music,” and he “wanted to become a part of that radical notion by creating a dance to it.”
The piece includes movements that emphasize fluidity, grace and passion. The cast consists of 10 UC Irvine dancers, and Lubovitch rehearses with them Monday, Wednesday and Friday, for three hours each session. Alongside him at these rehearsals is his assistant and one of the dancers in his company Katarzyna Skarpetowska, or Kate. Having Kate, who performed in the “Marimba” cast of 2008, there to assist him is important for the piece’s accuracy. Lubovitch expects a high level of maturity and discipline from his dancers. They are required to understand the complexity of the piece and have to remember the material at a professional level. One of his dancers, second-year dance major Jacob Boarnet believes that working with Lubovitch is unlike working with other faculty members in the department.