Southeast Missouri State University staff, student choreographers join forces for Fall for Dance show

Dance students and faculty at Southeast Missouri State University now have an extra opportunity to take the main stage to showcase their movements and choreographing abilities, thanks to the convergence of their talents in a new format.

"Fall for Dance" and "Spring Into Dance," two new shows at the River Campus this year, will combine the efforts of student and faculty once each season. Previously, the shows were presented as student-only in the fall and faculty-only in the spring.

Last year a similar show was known as "Dance-Apalooza."

Dr. Marc Strauss is the artistic coordinator for the fall show, "Fall for Dance," which opens Dec. 3. Strauss said during the show, 35 dancers will take the stage in 11 dances with styles that range from classical to contemporary ballet, jazz, ballroom, tap and a variety of others.

He said one reason for changing the format of the shows was because of increased enrollment in the performing arts majors at the university. Student dancers and choreographers said they like the new format. Most of the dancers will perform in two or three dances each.

McKenzie Gilliam, a junior at Southeast majoring in dance, said she thinks the new way the shows are being presented will be good for students who want to gain experience if they later want to choreograph for a living.

Gilliam will be among nine dancers who perform a closing piece in the show, a contemporary ballet that she said will be a powerful ending.

The piece, titled "Incandescence," was choreographed by faculty member Philip Edgecombe and will feature the use of brightly colored bulbs as props.

Gilliam said dancers will pull the bulbs down from above the stage and place them in their mouths, where the bulbs will then light.

The dancers in the Edgecombe piece affectionately refer to it as "the light bulb dance," or "the Philip." Gilliam, along with student dancers Camela Clem and Janine Holtgrave, said they are excited to be performing the piece because of its originality.

They are also among dancers who will perform a neo-classical ballet to the music of Bach. Another dance, a contemporary ballet, will be to an Elton John song.

Strauss said the good thing about a concert that has a variety of choreo- graphers is that one never knows what that artist has been working on that year, so the show comes out with a great variety of music and ideas.

"That's what makes going to a dance concert exciting, is that there's usually something for everyone, versus going to a theatrical production where the audience may already know the story. There's always something new and exciting with dance," Strauss said.

"Fall Into Dance" will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5 in Bedell Performance Hall at the River Campus.

Tickets are $12 to $16 and can be purchased at the River Campus box office or by calling 651-2265. Tickets can also be purchased through MetroTix at 800-293-5949, any outlet or online at MetroTix.com.