'Spring Into Dance': Annual dance performance welcomes spring at River Campus

The Spring Into Dance performance will feature 10 pieces per show this year, and it will be centered largely on classicism with contemporary features.

The show will be divided into two acts with a 15-minute intermission. Hilary Peterson, assistant professor of dance and project coordinator, said there will be five pieces in the first act and five pieces in the second act.

"In the fall concert that we just did in November, there were only six pieces, and it was a short, condensed concert," Peterson said. "This concert has 10, and it's two acts, so it's a much larger variety of work in this concert, and I think the audience will really like it."

The concert will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 17 and 18 and at 2 p.m. April 19 in the Bedell Performance Hall at Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus.

Peterson said all the dancers have trained extensively and their talents will manifest individually as well as collectively in this year's Spring Into Dance.

Laura Roth dances "Catch Me If You Can" during Spring Into Dance, presented by the Southeast Missouri State University Department of Theatre and Dance in 2012. (Southeast Missourian file)

"The ebb and flow of this concert and the variety is one of the strongest since I've been here," Peterson said. "I'm really just excited about all of the work that's in the concert and that it's a really strong concert."

Peterson said the concert consists of an assortment of styles, ending with "a really strong modern contemporary number."

"When you're programming a dance concert, you're trying to start off really strong with a really high-energy piece, so that's what the concert does," Peterson said. "It starts off with a high-energy jazz piece."

With a giggle, Peterson said, "We like jazz," and the jazz piece consists of music by Benny Goodman.

Peterson repeatedly mentioned an "ebb and flow" to the concert and described it as emanating a sort of energy between the audience and the performers.

Dancers perform Boys Like Big Bustles, choreographed by Philip Edgecombe, during Spring Into Dance 2013, on April 18 at the Bedell Performance Hall on the River Campus. (Southeast Missourian file)

"The second act, we start off with a longer piece, actually my piece," Peterson said. "It's based on the circus. So it starts off with that, and it dips and goes to a little few slower things and ends with a dance choreograph of 19 dancers, which is a really sort of intense kind of piece."

Peterson said each piece is like a unique view into another world, and may or may not follow a narrative.

"Dance concerts are meant to have a variety, not necessarily styles, but styles certainly like ballet, modern jazz, tap. This concert fits that bill, but also variety like moods, energy levels and colors," Peterson said. "Some pieces are more in the blue and gray area, and other pieces, like the tap piece that Ashley [Stettes] is in, is reds and yellows and pinks."

Peterson's piece is titled "Under the Big Top." She described it as "ensemble-driven" without a lead dancer.

"I wanted to make a fun, high energy piece that was loosely based in jazz dance, so circus, here we come" Peterson said.

Freshman and understudy Stettes dances in a piece titled "Huapango."

"It's a popular piece from Mexico," Stettes said. "It's a classical thing for Mexico, so she's recreating it. It has a lot of Mexican flare, a lot of fun."

Peterson listed other dance pieces, including one titled "Way Out" that is from a guest artist and is based on movements designed by the performers in the piece.

"The other piece that Ashley is in, the tap piece, is based on janitors mopping the floor, and then the floor gets wet in sort of what kind of movement comes out of that," Peterson said. "Another piece that ends the concert is Philip Edgecombe's work. It's titled 'Waters of Hellespont' and it's based on a Greek myth."

Stettes said the tap piece includes improvised dances. Some choreography the dancers are given has to be collaboratively changed to emulate the choreographer's vision, she said.

"There are four of us dancers, and we each have our own solo parts, so that was fun to do," Stettes said. "Mine is kind of different every time I do it depending on how things lead into it, but it's fun."

Peterson cited "classicism" as a common theme throughout the concert. She said the final piece contains a pas de deux, and it is formed like a classical ballet.

"With the final piece, the duet that's in the middle, two of our senior dancers who are very, very strong dancers, they partner very beautifully together," Peterson said. "Those are the type of dancers that we're training here, so I'm very excited for the audience to see that duet and to witness that level of training and performance."

Tickets are $16 and may be purchased by at the River Campus box office, 518 S. Fountain St., from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, by calling 651-2265 or by visiting RiverCampusEvents.com.

Pertinent address:

518 S. Fountain St., Cape Girardeau, MO