Dancers compete for cash in weekend showcase competition

Senior Sarah Wilkins found herself $1,000 richer Sunday after dancing the afternoon away.\nWilkins competed in Bloomington's first Showcase of the Arts Competition in Contemporary Dance this weekend in the dance studio at the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.\nThe competition is part of the Showcase of the Arts series, which will award more than $15,000 to performers this year alone in the areas of visual arts, dance, drama, literature, music and musical theater.\nStudents from IU and around the state competed against each other for the $1,000 top prize in each category. $1,000. The entrants had to be between the ages of 15 and 25, reside in Indiana and not have exclusive professional management or representation.\nAs the competition began, three judges observed dancers' individual style and technique by watching a class taught by Liz Shea, a professor at HPER.\nThe dancers were told that judges would be looking for evidence of strong technique in the form of alignment and locomotive performance.\nThe master class gave the dancers a chance to warm up while going through the normal regimen of plies, swings and a short center combination during which Shea encouraged the participants not to become nervous and tense up.\n"Don't get so caught up in the mechanics of it that you are not dancing it," she said.\nNear the end of the class, Shea instructed the dancers to run in a circular pattern across the floor.\n"Every good modern dancer knows how to run," she said.\nSome came to the competition to support their favorite dancers.\nJuniors Kyra Claussen and Sarah Ash showed up to see their roommate, Amanda Tanguay, a senior in the Individualized Major Program majoring in dance performance.\n"We really like to come to all of her performances and see how expressive she is," Claussen said. "We ask her to do it at home all of the time."\nSenior Ricky Alvarez opened the solo section of the competition and won the second place prize of $500 with a piece he choreographed.\nThe judges for this year's competition were Larry Attaway, Elizabeth Monnier and Patty Wiley.\nAttaway is a musician, composer, choreographer and the director of the Jordan College Academy of Dance at Butler University. He is also a founding member of the International Guild of Musicians in Dance.\nMonnier is the founder and artistic director of Fort Wayne Dance Collective, a nonprofit community arts organization and a graduate of the IU Modern Dance Program. Wiley has danced with Dan Wagoner's renowned dance company and various dancers in New York.\nRachel Sokolofski, a senior majoring in communications and culture and member of the Windfall Dancers performed an energetic piece titled "Revolu-fusion of the Americas" choreographed by Iris Rosa, a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences and director of the African American Dance Company. Her piece was originally performed in "Joining Forces," an IU modern dance production earlier this year.\nIn the end, it was Sarah Wilkins, an IU student and Windfall Studios contemporary jazz instructor, who left with the $1,000 prize for her all-around performance. \nWilkins and the other winners will perform in a show April 17 at the John Waldron Arts Center, 122 S. Walnut St.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Ronnie Moore at ronlmoor@indiana.edu.