Wilson then had a male stand behind the female and put another female on the opposite side of the room. “Same space, different story,” he continued. “That is why elements of movement are so important in dance.”

“Time, space and movement are the basic elements of dance. You have to have one in order to have the other,” said Reggie Wilson, the current artist-in resident for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee dance program.

“Time is always there. You can’t get away from it. Some people try, but it doesn’t work,” he continued, speaking to a Creative Movement class.

To further his theory, Wilson had a female stand at the corner of the dance studio.

“Now by looking at this whole space you can see that this tells a story,”

He asked the class to look at the whole picture: there was a large room and a woman standing in the corner. Wilson continued to say that if the curtain came up, this image would tell the beginning of the story to the audience viewing the dance.

Then Wilson had the female turn around, and said; “Now this tells a whole different story.”

He said that even though the whole space was completely the same, by this woman facing another direction the audience would see a completely different story evolving. Wilson then had a male stand behind the female and put another female on the opposite side of the room. “Same space, different story,” he continued. “That is why elements of movement are so important in dance.”

It is these elements of time, space and movement that Wilson is trying to get across to UWM dance majors through group classes, discussions and showings during his residency with the university.

Taking class with Wilson, you can see that he has a very distinct style in his movement. He uses his extensive background in ballet and modern dance and mixes traditions of Caribbean and African dance into his choreography. He draws upon blues, slave and worship cultures to create the fast-paced choreography he teaches.

In one particular class with Wilson, he had students learn a three step sequence that aimed the head and arms to the sky and then back down to the core. He then quickly reviewed a basic box step pattern with them and had students mix the two. The exercise proved quite challenging because it included a high amount of fast-paced direction changes that worked the mind and body rigorously.

Wilson’s company, Fist and Heel, for which he is artistic director, is a dance company based in Brooklyn, New York. His company explores influences of Central African culture on world performance forms and themes from the Mississippi Delta culture. He has done extensive research on African-American communities and it shows in his own work.

Wilson had a female company member perform a solo dance at the open house of Kenilworth Square this past weekend. The female solo dancer moved with extensive athleticism and grace in her body and astounded the audience when she revealed after the Saturday performance that she had just starting learning the piece with Wilson that previous Tuesday.

The twenty-minute solo piece explored memories from Wilson’s past of growing up in the South. The piece used the element of time to showcase these events in a chronological order. Background music of jazz, gospel and soul helped accent the piece. When the dancer finished, she had set four candle sticks around the center of the stage and circled the stage twice ending into a final pose.

Wilson will continue his residency into the end of the month at UWM. He will be guest teaching various dance classes such as Modern, African and Composition. He is also reaching out into the Milwaukee community and teaching a master dance class at Danceworks and working with Milwaukee Ballet.

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