The University Dance Company in San Diego State University’s
School of Music and Dance will perform for the campus community at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 2, and at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 3 and Sunday, March 4, in the Dance Studio Theater (ENS-200).
The University Dance Company is a celebrated pre-professional company that has been invited to perform at the American College Dance Festival this spring. The performance is a signature event of Arts Alive SDSU, highlighting the best and brightest artistic ventures SDSU has to offer.
Shaping performance
During the fall 2017 semester, students in the company rehearsed as two separate casts, each with their own faculty member choreographing and advising them. When the two groups came together, they created a third section that overlapped their individual pieces.
SDSU dance professor
Jess Humphrey choreographed the original routine to
David Lang’s “Just,” before replacing the original music with opera by
Giuseppe Verdi.
“By placing something next to what it wasn’t intended to placed next to, the music really has a role in shaping the performance,” said Humphrey.
“I was interested in finding a balance between too little and too much,” said dance professor
Leslie Seiters, who found inspiration for her section of the performance in the concept of repetition. “When something is repeated over and over, the audience will have the chance to see different variations in movement, as well as different pairings of dancers.”
While some movements may be unfamiliar, the choreographers have kept the audience in mind. The music ranges from psychedelic rock to opera and folk. At certain points, the dancers themselves will sing while performing. The goal is to expand the number of possible interpretations as much as possible.
“We invite the audience to open their minds and give themselves the freedom to focus on the experience, rather than the detecting one narrative story,” said Humphrey.
Tickets are $20 for the general public, $15 for seniors and military, and $10 for students. Tickets may be purchased at
dance.sdsu.edu.