Celebrated Voices: Toba

Celebrated Voices: Toba Celebrated Voices performed by many Contemporary groups on 25 Feb, 2014. It was held in UVU Ragan Theater. Celebrated Voices was directed by Co-directors Doris Hudson de Trujillo, Nicole Ortega and Monica Campbell. I am going to talk about one of the dances in the performance, Toba. Toba was choreographed by Wilson M. Domingues. It was performed by Dalan Brown, Molly Buonforte, Whitney Collins, Megan Cranney, Miriam Curtis, Abby Gibbs, Adam Jensen, Joshua Martinez, Deleise Merrick, Kate Monson, Angela Nielsen, Aleisha Paspuel, and Jon Thomas. Wilson Domingues(Wilson, 2014) was born in Venezuela when his parents worked there. He moved back to Portugal when he was a teenager. He performed with Gullbenkian Ballet , Lisbon, Portugal in Europe, primarily as a Soloist , for 16 years. He was also invited to create works for the Aveiro Dance Company and The Dance Project in Portugal. Wilson has taught at Brigham Young University, Utah Valley University and University of Utah. In December of 2012, as a full scholarship recipient at University of Utah, he graduated with the Master of Fine Arts degree. In Toba, Wilson remembers his life in South America. He’s thinking about how colonialism changed many original tribe’s culture and destiny. Many cultures were forced to change and disappeared. In the beginning of the dance, people in the Village were very happy and dancing around. The setting of the stage is a big back drop that is torn and ripped. He used blue and red to contrast the emotion, warm and cold, happiness and peace. Dancers performed how the village people enjoy their life in their traditional way. The music was cheerful. The cheerful voices sang along with the exciting drum beat and Ocarina. The village people were not rich. They wore worn clothes and were barefoot but they were celebrating happily. Suddenly,the music changed. The stage light became dark. The tone of the music was sad singing along with the drums. People