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A Semester of Dance

Concerts to showcase a variety of styles, as well as benefit charity

The UA dance department closes its season this week with its Spring Collection concert that will see the return of some of the department's stronger performances from this semester in two separate concerts.

Jory Hancock, dance department head, said the need for two concerts to showcase all the qualified performances was a reflection of the dance program's energy this semester.

"You can only do that if you have a really strong program, if you have enough strong dancers and enough strong works to make two completely different shows," he said.

The first of two concerts will be presented today and tomorrow night, while the second is Saturday. Both feature works of various styles.

"The program is really diverse," Hancock said. "We wanted to build a program that doesn't seem redundant and that offers something for everyone."

Susan Quinn, assistant professor of dance, who will have several of her choreographed works presented in the collection, said she felt the same.

"It's such a mixed concert. That's what is so great about it," she said.

Quinn also recognizes how strong the department has grown over the course of her eight-year career, leading it to be named among the top 20 dance programs in the country by Dance Spirit magazine.

"(The department) gets better every semester. I hardly see any weaknesses anymore," Quinn said.

The variety of the collection demonstrates what has been happening this semester in the dance department.

"What has been prevalent this semester has been a multiple-style approach," Hancock said. "There are some pieces that are strictly one style - strictly classical ballet or modern - and then there are pieces that are a fusion of styles, like (the work of) Susan Quinn where the medium is jazz, but built on a foundation of ballet."

All the works being performed, both for faculty and students, were auditioned before panel of a faculty members who then decided which would be featured in the collection.

Hancock said about 60 percent of the auditioned pieces were selected. The remaining works will be performed in the department's "Last Chance to Dance concert" next week.

The collection will also continue the dance department's long-standing commitment to charity with all the proceeds from the Saturday matinee performance going to a local preschool/kindergarten Wings on Words.

Wings on Words is a nonprofit, private school, now in its second year of operation, that caters to children with a language or speech delay.

School Director Karen Zakerwski stressed the school also enrolls students without a language delay, and they make up about half the enrollment of 35. She said both types of students work together in the classroom.

Hancock expects to raise about $500 to $1000 for the school. He said, however, that "we are trying not to raise just money, but awareness."

Hancock said he believed the dance department's commitment to charity donations is part of a student's education.

"One of the things that I've always believed in as part of an artist's education to be a good artist you have to be aware of the community you live in," he said. "Artists can get caught up in the pursuit of their own perfection. They need to be reminded that part of what they can give back to the community is the joy and the power of dance."

Zakerwski said the donated money will go toward the purchase of new toys for the children.

"We'd like to buy additional sets of LEGOs, a lot of trucks for our block area, new baby dolls for the play area, new bicycles and scooter boards, as well as several new board games," she said.

The Spring Collection concert will be performed at the Ina Gitting Dance Theater, with performances at 8 p.m. on today, tomorrow, and Saturday, as well as a Saturday matinee performance at 2 p.m.

General tickets are $9 and $7 for seniors and students. For tickets, call the Fine Arts Box Office at 621-1162.