'HALLELUJAH' AND 'ALL THAT JAZZ'

Sabrina Elston and Dr. Marc Strauss rehearsed for th 5th annual Fall Dance Concert.

Friday night's fifth annual Fall Dance Concert will give the audience a rare opportunity to see dance performed to live music."It can bring a kind of electric feeling to the dance you can't get otherwise," says Dr. Christopher Goeke, whose tenor will be heard in the dance concert centerpiece, "Hallelujah." Goeke will be accompanied by pianist Bev Reese on the four songs in "Hallelujah."Everyone can find something to like on the program, which includes dances choreographed to tunes by such diverse musicians as Ricky Martin, Erik Satie and Duke Ellington. There's also country music.

The dance concert will begin at 7 p.m. at Academic Auditorium. Admission will be charged.

Dr. Marc Strauss, head of the Dance Program at Southeast, will join the 14 DanceXpressions dancers on "Hallelujah," the live-music work he choreographed and has dedicated to his mother, who is fighting cancer. "'Hallelujah'" is my prayer for her," Strauss writes in the program notes.

It consists of "Elegie" by Satie, Kurt Weill's waltz "Le Roi D'Aquitaine" and his tango "Youkali," and finally folk singer Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."The songs may sound very different but they have something in common, Strauss said. "They all have a bittersweet, world-weary and yet hopeful kind of energy. There are very complicated kinds of feelings behind the words."Goeke sings all but the Cohen song in French.

Singing for a dance performance is a new experience for him. "As a solo performer I am in complete control over what I do. Here, I'm in a secondary position with the tempo dictated by what the dancers do," he says.

From offstage, Reese also will accompany the dancers on the Kander & Ebb song "And All That Jazz." Musical Theatre Workshop students will reprise their performance of "I Hope I Get It" from "A Chorus Line." They performed it at the recent "A Night on Broadway." Reese again will accompany from offstage.

The dancers will move to recorded music during the remainder of the concert. Country and western music will provide the beat for a performance by the Jackson Spear-It Dancers directed by Southeast instructor Mary Pensel. Michael Jackson gets called on in "Keep the Faith," a tune choreographed for practicum and Dance Club members by Southeast Sundancers Danielle Morgan and Jean Marie Gilman.

The DanceXpressions Dancers will move to Peggy Lee's classic "Fever," choreographed by DanceXpressions dancer Nancy Luebbers.

Academy of DanceArts students will dance to Billy Joel's "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me," a number choreographed by Southeast instructor Kara Hammes.

Southeast students and Dance Club members will dance to Ellington's "Things Ain't What They Used to Be," another number choreographed by Strauss. Southeast instructor Kindal Blattner has choreographed "Uncaged." Dance Club members and practicum students will dance.

The finale will be Martin's hit "The Cup of Life," choreographed by Strauss and danced by the DanceXpressions Dancers.

One of the dancers, D'Ante' DuCasse' of St. Louis, is one of only four males who will dance in the concert. He has enjoyed being involved but he doesn't expect to continue organized dancing after college. "Dancing is hard. You have to devote all your time to it," he said.

The senior computer science major had to overcome the usual male apprehension toward dance. "With the type of dress you have to wear I was apprehensive," he said. "You get over it."