Students in the Art of Dance I and Art of Dance II classes performed in their end-of-year choreography showcase April 19 in the Chalmers Dance Studio.
Ten dancers collaborated under the direction of Erica Carpenter Jansson ’08 to create the combined show, where the classes demonstrated their skills in choreography and dance.
The show featured solo performances, as well as large group pieces.
“I liked it a lot,” Eddie Mack ’17 said. “My favorite part was definitely the dance that Carlos [Guanche ’16] choreographed, the one that was all about kinetic energy. I thought that it was a really cool and original idea.”
Preparation began in January after the students returned from winter break.
Students choreographed and directed the pieces based on tasks assigned in class, utilizing the skills and creativity they have learned during the year.
“Although we are in classes geared more for beginners, it was cool to create this showcase because none of us are truly beginning dancers,” Alexa Frandzel ’18 said. “We’ve all had some sort of dance experience, although not very extensive, so we were able to come up with choreography that was slightly more advanced than one would expect from the Art of Dance classes.”
In class, the dancers learned how to focus all of their energy and attention to their performance and choreography, as well as how to translate the six elements of dance into their pieces.
For example, Guanche choreographed a piece based on the concept of kinetic, the flowing energy between two figures. In his piece, only one person could move at a time, unless the two people were touching, in which case both dancers would move together.
Many student attendees said that they enjoyed the show.
“I was really impressed by the choreography, especially Sohni [Kaur ’17]’s, with the six people,” Kat Edminston ’17 said. “The dancers obviously put a lot of work into it, and that was really clear. I thought the music pairings were really awesome.”
In Kaur’s piece, entitled “Nightmares,” she aimed to convey the fear and vulnerability anyone can find themselves in during nightmares, where they find the situations to be out of the control.
“It’s been a really great process, I’ve gotten very close with my class members and teachers and overall it was a very fun, non-stressful experience for me as a performer,” Frandzel said.
