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SOUTHEAST STUDENTS TO PERFORM 35 PIECES LASTING NO MORE THAN EIGHT MINUTES

LAST Chance to DanceEXPRESS

 7 ARROW • week of Dec. 5 - 11, 2012

Keith Johnson, below, lifts and throws Chance Hill, above, while rehearsing. Photo by Andrea Gils

Students exhibit talent in last dance concert of semesterANDREA GILS COPY EDITOR

From lights and sound, to costumes and cho-reography, students will be in charge of the semester’s final dance concert, Last Chance to Dance, where everyone can “unplug” before finals.

The idea behind Last Chance to Dance is students will have their last opportunity to perform in the semester. This informal con-cert is always the Monday before finals week, so students are able to have a final hurrah at the end of the semester, according to concert director Hilary Peterson.

In Last Chance to Dance, students submit all kinds of work including hip-hop, contem-porary, jazz, duets and bollywood.

According to senior musical theatre major Keith Johnson, the students performing know what students want see, so the concert will include pieces that students enjoy watching.

Submissions began a couple of weeks before the event, and Peterson said she recei-ved most of them on the first day. There will be about 35 pieces with each piece lasting no longer than eight minutes. The short length gives more students opportunities to present their work. Freshmen, sophomore, juniors and seniors will perform and the time limit is the only restriction.

“It’s so funny to me because when I first came to the dance department, there were about 11 pieces in the show, and the majo-rity of them were things we were doing in our classes and we performed at Academic Hall. … Now students can only submit two pieces of work for Last Chance, and the show is per-formed in the Bedell Performance Hall and

it now has a time limit,” said Leshay Mathis, senior dance and corporate communication major.

Senior Rachel Hunsell said it is a chance for students whose work didn’t get into either Fall for Dance or Spring into Dance performances or for those students who don’t feel comforta-ble auditioning their work yet, to present their pieces.

Hunsell choreographed two tap duets. She said she has high expectations for the show since the Department of Theatre and Dance is continually growing and getting stronger, which in turn makes the concerts even better.

“Every Last Chance is different, and that’s the beauty of it,” Hunsell said.

Students have rehearsed some pieces for months and others only a few weeks. They are in charge of scheduling their own rehearsals, and the only dress rehearsal is the Sunday before opening day.

Mathis will perform in three pieces, two of which she choreographed, including “Well Well Well” by Duffy, which has four dan-cers and is more of a “jazzy piece with a bit of comedy,” according to Mathis, and “Express” from the movie Burlesque, which has 11 dan-cers. The final piece is a senior piece.

For graduating senior Chance Hill, this dance concert will be bittersweet since it is his last one, though he said it will be a great memory and a great stepping stone.

Hill choreographed the piece “Okay...Recap,” which he said will be humorous and witty.

“If you go to both Fall for Dance and Last Chance then it will make so much more sense,” Hill said in an email. “I chose this piece because all of the dancers need a good laugh after such a long semester of rehear-sals of the same piece. It takes everything in a different light. We have been preparing for this only for about a week. There are eight fellas, which is fabulous because there are few male dancers.”

Johnson is also in the Fall for Dance con-cert parody and said the piece is hilarious, energetic and entertaining. Johnson is also performing in the piece “XY” with five male dancers, which he referred to as being a “man dance for the ladies.” Johnson said the stu-dent choreographer of “XY,” Taylor Pace, wan-ted to give male dancers the opportunity to show what they can do.

“This piece is specifically choreographed for guys,” Johnson said. “It’s tough, masculine, hard, rock, sexy, it’s everything that a man wants to show and do.”

Peterson said that the audience will see growth in the professionalism of students’ work.

“Students grow so much in one semester, and this concert is an opportunity to show their growth, like freshmen who come in August, and after three months grow to the point that they are a different dancer in one semester,” Peterson said. “Watching them

just lavish in their own creativity and pas-sion for what they do is so enjoyable and so rewarding.”

Mathis has been hired for several choreo-graphy jobs and works for the largest dance company in the world. She said dance has taught her never to give up on her dreams and that hard work and a positive outlook are important.

“Everyone says majoring in arts is a silly idea, but I love what I do and I have been pretty successful,” Mathis said.

Last Chance to Dance will take place at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 10 in the Donald C. Bedell Perfor-mance Hall. Tickets are $10 for general admis-sion and $3 for students with a Southeast ID. They can be purchased at the River Cam-pus box office. For more information call 651-2265 or visit rivercampusevents.com.

“Watching them just lavish in their own creativity and passion for what they do is so enjoyable and so rewarding.” Hilary Peterson

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