Fall Dance Concert changes name, not attitude

This year the Southeast Missouri Department of Theatre and Dance has changed the name of its annual Fall Dance Concert. Instead of the generic "Fall Dance Concert," the yearly offering is now "Dance-apalooza."

Yes, the name is much more eye-catching, but the winning formula that makes this dance showcase a hit every year remains the same -- big-time variety in dance styles.

From classical ballet to hip hop to movement inspired by hand claps, the department made sure to cover all the ground it could. Unlike the theater aspect of Theatre and Dance, "Dance-apalooza" is the only major public showcase for a dance program that produces dancers who sometimes go on to study with the nation's elite dance companies. That means they lay everything on the table for all to see at this annual concert.

Ballet kicks off the evening in classic style with "Rigaudon Nouveau," set to the music of Edvard Grieg, choreographed by Stephen Stone, managing director of American Ballet Theatre Summer in Detroit and director of ballet at Wayne State University.

Seven students run through an intricate ballet that is sometimes slow and gentle and sometimes fast to the point of giddiness.

Then things get ecletic. After the opener comes the biggest contrast of the entire show -- the classical ballet is followed by a five-student hip hop number set to the music of Missy Elliot and choreographed by Southeast faculty member Hilary Peterson. "Knock Them Out" is so quick that you may miss it if you turn your head, so pay attention. But the high energy hip hop provides a great modern pop contrast to the high art dance styles that surround it.

Highlights can be found in this dance concert to please just about any kind of dance fan, and maybe even those who shy away from such productions because of their inaccessibility.

Some pieces are abstract and thought-provoking -- even hard to understand -- like "The Metamorphoses." "The Metamorphoses" is highly intellectual, using the music of a 1951 composition called "Six Metamorphoses After Ovid," which is itself based on Ovid's "The Metamorphoses" written in 8 A.D.

The piece is a multi-movement mini-concert in itself, which may give it worth even to the dance layman -- a collaboration between the Department of Music (featuring faculty members Paul Thompson on flute and Laura Guyer Ross on oboe), the Department of Art (featuring the art of faculty member Sara Riley as background) and theater and dance.

Thompson and Ross also provide a musical interlude, without dancers, just before the massive "Metamorphoses" production takes stage.

The concert takes on a quick change of personality after "Metamorphoses" by heading straight into "Here We Go 'Round," a fun, lighthearted study of children at play using the medium of dance, also choreographed by Peterson.

And all those pieces take place before intermission.

The second half of the show continues in the same spirit, featuring the modern "A Certain Slant of Light," choreographed by another guest, Philip Edgecombe, company member of Hedwig Dances in Chicago. The experimental "Clapping Music," another music department collaboration, provides a bridge to the massive climax of the concert, "Vignettes," which serves as a sort of summary of the concert as a whole, using styles from jazz to modern to tap to what I can only term "hoe down," choreographed by new faculty member Lees Hummel and set to the bluegrass/jazz/rock/jam fusion of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.

The only piece missing is a choreography by a student, but the massive cast of student dancers do a great job representing a skilled theater and dance department. Department chair Dr. Kenn Stilson likes to talk about his department's triple threats -- students that can dance, sing and act -- and many familiar faces from Southeast's theater productions (including musicals) can be found on the dance concert stage. They're too numerous to name, but they almost always shine in this year's dance showcase.

Dance is a living art form at Southeast, and these students prove that's true.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182

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Want to go?

What: Dance-apalooza

When: 7:30 p.m. tonight, Saturday, Nov. 17 and Nov. 18

Where: Rose Theatre

Info: 651-2265