I.S. gives Kellee Roston a chance to bring her creative vision to life

In a darkened theatre, five blindfolded dancers swoop and lunge and twirl across the stage to the urgent beat of a drum. A woman rises and calls out in a strong, clear voice: “Masks! Masks! Black mask, red mask, you white-and-black masks. Masks of the four points from which the spirit blows, in silence I salute you! ”

In the front row, Kellee Roston watches intently. She has conceived and choreographed this piece, selected the texts read by the narrator, and rehearsed the dancers 10 hours a week for the past two months. Tonight, in a theatre full of friends, family, and faculty, she sees her vision come to life.

Roston, a senior double major in theatre/dance and Africana studies from Washington, D.C., has been dancing since she was six years old. During her first three years at Wooster, she choreographed smaller pieces for the theatre department’s annual dance concerts, studied with dancer and choreographer Gladys Tchimno in Cameroon, West Africa, and interned for a semester with two dance studios in New York City.

She drew on all those experiences in creating the performance portion of her senior Independent Study, Wooster’s signature academic program, which allows every student to create an original research project, written work, performance, or exhibit of artwork, supported one-on-one by a faculty mentor. But it was a chance discovery that gave Roston’s I.S. its focus.

“I came across an article entitled ‘Dance Masks of the Tikar’ by Marietta Joseph, which describes the dances of a Cameroonian grasslands ethnic group,” she recalls.

The article discussed the meaning of male and female mask dances and their relationship to one another. “Until her partner is carved,” the author wrote of a female mask, “she will dance alone, but according to one informant, in such a case, ‘the dance means nothing.’”

“I was haunted by that quote,” Roston says. “Is a woman not important enough for her voice to be singularly heard within any society? Does she have to be linked to a man in order to prove her significance, her worthiness?”

Those questions were the foundation for “Singularly Women/Collectively Woman,” a performance that blended elements of traditional African mask dances with other forms of movement.

Through the fall, Roston worked out the choreography and staging of the piece, auditioned and rehearsed dancers, and met weekly with her faculty advisers, Kim Tritt, professor of theatre, and Charles Peterson, assistant professor of Africana studies.

“We also found ourselves in many conversations that took place informally between classes,” Tritt says. “I also provided feedback during rehearsals and in ‘tech week’ when the elements of dance, sound, lighting and costuming are fused together.”

The performance, however, was just the first element of Roston’s I.S. In the spring, she will write a major paper that examines the role of mask dances in different African ethnic groups, and what the dances say about the role of women in each of those cultures.

“Kellee’s I.S. is really indicative of who she is as a person,” Peterson says. “She’s been a student of mine since freshman year and she’s always been able to grasp the big issues, but without losing the nuance and subtlety beneath the surface.”