Dance students, classes showcase jazz, tap, modern at Willkie Auditorium

Indiana Contemporary dance students will show off their hard work from this past semester at the Spring 2010 Student Showcase.

The performance, 7 p.m. today at the Willkie Auditorium is free and open to the public. The showcase will consist of 13 dances ranging from jazz, tap, Middle Eastern and modern.

Also included in the showcase will be a presentation by students in the class, Teaching Dance Activities and Dance: Experience and Art Form.

Faculty members presenting the pieces include Sherilyn Foley, Susannah Windell, Gwendolyn Hamm, Selene Carter, Lauren Frederick and Donna Carlton. 

Each class started preparing their dances for this performance around the time midterms ended and have spent class time practicing for this final performance. Although dancers did not start the dances at the beginning of the course, they used techniques learned throughout the semester in the final piece.

Foley, in charge of the show, described the event as fun and informal. 

“It is a fun way for the dancers to show what they have learned over the semester and a great way for prospective and current dance students to preview classes they might be interested in for the upcoming semester,” she said.

Sophomore Stephanie Kushnir, one of the performers, said the showcase gives people a chance to perform who are not involved in dance outside of class and to show what they have worked on.

“It is a way to show how hard we have worked during the semester and to see the progression we have made during the dance course,” she said.

Lyndsay Bruce, an Advanced Modern Dance class student, is excited for yet another chance to cumulate the semester.

“I have performed for the showcase before, and it is always entertaining to watch the other classes perform,” she said.

Foley said she feels everyone should take a dance class as a way of relieving stress and would like to welcome anyone to the show who is interested in coming.