Dancing Spirits - by Michael Torre

Stainless Steel - 1999, Traverse City, Michigan

Michael Torre is a faculty member at Northwestern Michigan College (NMC). He has created a "lasting, site-integrated design that follows the form of a traditional sculpture." The tree covered NMC campus inspired his creation of a form that is essentially an Y- shape, patterned into a human form. This shape is one that he has used many times in sculptures as a form and surface design, and also as a representation of an angel or spirit.

Torre chose to work with stainless steel for this sculpture for many reasons, including "my feeling was that a spirit form should reflect the light creating an image that would at times shine brightly or appear less intense depending on the light source." Steel is a material that is very strong and will withstand bad weather, which will allow the sculpture to remain unchanged for many years. He designs his sculptures on the computer. His initial design for this sculpture was to repeat the spirit shape in a circular chain, which "was reminiscent of a group of dancers in a circle". He achieved a feeling of rhythm by repeating the forms in alternating up and down positions. "This effect, coupled with the curving dynamic shape of the individual figures, reinforces the image of a group of dancing spirits unencumbered by the bonds of gravity."