The Department of Theater and Dance held their annual Spring Dance Concert this past weekend inside the Intimate Theater at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex.
Student participants were selected based on availability and their dedication to the program and the choreographers. Dance majors worked since the end of January using improvisation and exploring to help create the foundation of the pieces.
The showcase presented five different dances, each with its own distinctive theme. The choreographers for each of the dances included Leandro Glory Damasco Jr., Boroka Nagy, Kellie St. Pierre and Hae Kyung Lee.
The first piece titled “Cast/Shed/Throw” featured a dance performed in the dark using headlamps. Another piece titled “Synapse – C” incorporated group movement where dancers were carried swiftly across the dance floor.
According to one of the student dancers, senior Kevin Bonilla, the inspiration behind his piece “Babel” was personal expression.
“It’s mainly just identity, expressing ourselves. Each dancer is an individual. Hae is very big on who you are and your identity. She worked with us, putting our differences all together, and created a piece,” said Bonilla.
One of the pieces that took the longest to create was “The Turn”, choreographed by Jessica Harper. Rehearsals for this dance began back in Oct. 2018. According to the program order, the piece is meant to be a dark comedy but was turned into an interpretive dance. One of the dancers for the piece, senior Alaina Ross, interpreted the piece as a reflection of tragic events that have occurred in everyday life.
“It’s that shift on how life can turn so fast and you don’t know, it can start off as a regular business day but you don’t know how it’s going to end,” said Harper.
For many of the dancers, the concert was their very last performance of their college careers. Ross explained that though she had already performed for opening night, she is still in shock that she is graduating.
“It hasn’t really hit me yet that this is my last concert; as we get closer to closing night, it’s kinda hitting me that this is my last performance here,” she said.
As the seniors approached closing night, dancer Patrick Kong decided to view his last performance as an opportunity to live in the moment.
“It’s our last time, it’s going to happen, so I’m going to appreciate every detail that night, take it all in, and from there, just move on.”
