Dance minors turn out major show

With grand jetes and pique turns galore the dance minors put on an entertaining concert this past Saturday and Sunday.

The dances were of many different styles including ballet, hip-hop and tap, many of which were choreographed by GCSU students.

The last dance in the show was a tap piece choreographed by Emily Wyche, a senior accounting major, entitled “King of Pop.” It was to a mix of Michael Jackson songs. She thought of the piece as a tribute to her high school dance teacher who, according Wyche, was like a second mom because she had dance class five or six days a week. She and her teacher both loved Michael Jackson and tap dancing.

“She just recently passed away from pancreatic cancer and so I knew I wanted to do a tap dance for my last spring concert at GCSU,” Wyche said.

Senior Marianna Miller choreographed a piece entitled “The Passing.” She said that the group of dancers who performed it – because most all were seniors – inspired it.

“This was a way could be together for one last dance before we leave,” Miller said.

The dance was a modern one and it was to Imogen Heap’s song Candlelight, which according to Miller as soon as she heard it see knew it was the song she needed to use. She felt she needed to portray the friendship between her and all the dancers and how their lights illuminate each other.

The spring concert also featured guest dancer Laura Kay Young, a GCSU alumna who now dances with the Alabama Ballet, who choreographed two pieces and danced one of them. Both were done on pointe, but one had more of a modern feel than the other one.

The most unique piece of the whole concert was the improvised piece called “Oops a Daisy.” Many theater people helped out with the performance.

Another unique piece was the hip-hop piece called “The Evolution of Hip-Hop.” It started out with a tribal and African feel, but then the dancers moved like modern hip-hop dancers.

Junior Amanda Smith choreographed a piece entitled “Unbreakable” was a sort of rock and roll ballet style dance because it was performed to a Red Hot Chili Pepper’s song.

Smith had choreographed the dance before, but had changed it up to challenge the dancers more.

“It was called ‘Unbreakable’ for a reason. It’s about how no matter what the dancers go through they still have dance to help them through,” Smith said.

One piece had live music in the form of a singer performing the words to the song the dancers moved to. Jon Peeler sang “Go Tell It On the Mountain” while the dancers performed a modern dance choreographed by Amelia Pelton the head of the Dance Minor Program.

Before the concert started two dancers, Elizabeth Bryant, a sophomore management major, and Chelsea Thomas, a mass communication major, were honored. They each received $500 scholarships.

Posted by Danielle Paluga on Apr 30 2010. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry