Dancing in Spring

Nicholas Valenzuela Arizona Daily Wildcat Heidi Huckelberry (below) practices for the Spring Collection that is this weekend which holds two different concerts; one show will be Thursday and Friday nights at 8, and another will be Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Spring Collection includes both faculty and staff choreographed and performed dances, as well as a group from UNLV performing a dance by nationally-known dancers Sam Watson and Melissa Groissant.

"This is actually part of an exchange we did with [UNLV] last week," said Dance Division Head Jory Hancock. "We sent eight of our dancers to their college and we performed on their concert, so now they're reciprocating."

Watson will also probably be on staff in the Dance Division next year, although Hancock was quick to add that it wasn't confirmed yet.

The event is called Spring Collection because it involves two separate concerts.

Eric M. Jukelevics Arizona Daily Wildcat Zoe Bowick (right) and Deanna Doncsecz practice the routine Society for Sorrowful Sisters for the UA Dance Division's Spring Collection last Thursday night in the Gittings Dance Theater.

"There were so many good works that the only way we could present them all and keep the concerts at a reasonable length was to go with two performances, and I think that really illustrates the growth of the program; that we can have a repertory approach to a spring concert," said Hancock.

"It's a nice combination of faculty and student work," said Hancock about the upcoming UA performances. "In quite a few cases the student work is really strong...if someone were to just come to the performance and sit there without a program, they would have a hard time telling which is which."

Many of the dances that debuted at the well-received Premium Blend last February will be included in Spring Collection.

"Because the venue is so different, even if they were to be danced by the same dancers, the pieces would look different," Hancock pointed out. "You're seeing it in a new theater, but you're sitting much much closer to the stage."

"They're also really concise," Hancock added about the two performances, "so the program, with intermission is only about an hour and half."

The Dance Division has had a productive semester, and Spring Collection celebrates that.

"There's a really nice variety, including tap...the usual sprinkle of human and mystery and sorrow and joy," said Hancock, "these two programs have really nice balance, so that nobody will go away feeling overwhelmed."