The school year is drawing to a close and with finals drawing near, students are looking forward to summer. However, there are still several events that should not be missed, including the 2014 Gustavus Dance Company’s annual Spring Dance Concert.
Titled Grace and open to the public, the concert will be showing May 2-4 in the Anderson Theatre at 8 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
The concert is about two hours long and features a broad array of choreography created by faculty members Melissa Rolnick, Michele Rusinko, Sarah Hauss, and Jill Patterson, guest artists and Gustavus Alumni Philip Flickinger ‘01 and Katy Becker ‘02, and student-choreographed pieces by Senior Dance Majors Johnny Bates and Kelsey Hanstad.
As the title of the show suggests, all nine dances are centered around, involve, and even bring new meaning to the concept of grace.
“It’s really interesting how a lot of the pieces kind of involve that. It wasn’t anything planned,” Hanstad said.
Hanstad is excited to participate in her final Spring Dance Concert at Gustavus. She choreographed a piece called “Libertà” (“Freedom” in Italian) in the fall as a group piece. She is performing in three other pieces: “Then.Here.Begin,” a senior piece choreographed by Jill Patterson and was selected to be in the Gala Concert at the 2014 American Collegiate Dance Festival Association. She is also performing in a trio called “Jonesing for Grace” choreographed by Michele Rusinko with a lot of scenic elements and grand costumes, and “Abide,” solo choreographed by Philip Flickinger
“This is my last Spring Dance Concert. But it’s also kind of what is starting my dance career. This is big for me because I have so much stuff in it, and I’m such a big part in it. This is my Gustavus family, this is my dance family. It means a lot,” Hanstad said.
As each of the choreographers expresses different emotions and narratives through the dances, Grace will be presenting a mixture and blending of many modern styles. As stated in the recent press release, presented to the public to advertise for the concert, “The pieces are emotionally provocative and physically compelling, eliciting the perception of grace.”
The Dance Department concerts and performances do not always receive the publicity and audience that they often deserve.
“I think its a little underestimated on campus. We’ve gotten rave reviews, but sometimes not a lot of people know about it,” Hanstad said.
Melissa Rolnick and Michele Rusinko are serving as co-artistic directors of Grace. Faculty members Micah Maatman, Terena Wilkins, and Larissa McConnell are serving as Production Manager, light and sound designer, and costume designer, respectively. Senior Anna Michel and Juniors Kit Baumer and Bethany Davidson are designing sound, light, and costumes.
First-year Kate Dudley is performing in guest artist Katy Becker’s piece. The cast began working on the piece in the fall and have been rehearsing once a week since. All of the dancers performing this piece helped with the choreography, so it is a collaboration between the cast and Becker’s ideas. They worked with interesting ideas, such as inertia, and discussed hips and hip movements, as well as energy and heart energy. The music for the piece was created by a friend of Becker’s, who came in and recorded the dancers singing and doing body percussion, making it very unique.
“It’s going to be the first performance I’ve been in at Gustavus, which is really exciting. I’m really excited to be able to perform in a college show that is a show to celebrate dance, and I’m really excited to be able to perform with my cast. We’re all pretty close. I’m looking forward to it,” Dudley said.
Tickets are available at the Information desk in the campus center or at www.gustavustickets.com.