Wednesday, Nov. 5, students took to the stage for the PSU Dance Minor Fall Informal Dance Show held in the Miller Theatre in the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts. Both students from the dance minor and students who have no dance experience performed dances.
Students presented nearly all aspects of the performances. From the programs to the choreography, students had a hand in all of it.
“The performance tonight is presented by our dance minors,” Elizabeth Smith, a dance instructor, said. “There are tons of students in it, whether they’re dance minors or not. Most of the work tonight is produced by students; lots of student choreography, all student dancers, students who designed the programs, all of it. It’s a great way for our students to show their creativity and all their hard work.”
There was a wide variety of dances showcased during the performance.
“There are dances from other countries to super fun hip-hop dances,” Darcie Shultz, a dance instructor, said. “It’s a great show to be introduced to dance if this is your first dance performance, and it’s a great time to appreciate movement.”
One of the dances was choreographed in honor of Native American Heritage Month. The instructor, Shultz, who is Native American herself, choreographed the dance for her modern dance class to bring awareness to the topic.
“One dance in particular is extremely important,” Shultz said, “The modern piece is for Native American Heritage Month. I am Native American, and this piece is dedicated to missing and murdered indigenous women and relatives. It has a lot of meaning behind it and the students were really open to telling that story, and I’m super grateful to them for that.”
The show is quite a bit more informal than the Spring Symposium, which gave audience members the chance to have a more personal connection to the performances.
“This show is a little bit more informal than the one in the spring, so it gives you a chance to be a little bit more up close and personal with the dancers. It’s just a beautiful night of sharing.”
The Fall Informal Dance Show also allows for a way to share the arts throughout the community, an outlet for people to try new things.
“I think it’s a great way to share the arts in this community,” Smith said. “I also think it is a great motivator for people to try new things because we have people who have danced before that are able to continue pursuing their passion, but we also have people who have never danced before that got to try dance class and perform on stage. I think it’s just a good reminder for the community to try new things.”
This show occurs once a year during the fall semester. As stated, it is a more informal performance compared to the Spring Symposium, but it also gives students the advantage of working together and creating something themselves to present to the community.