The Sam Houston dance department is getting zesty with their senior studio Zest/ i/ ful show. The performance will be held on Thursday at 8 p.m. in the James & Nancy Gaertner Performing Arts Center and will showcase only senior dance majors.
The senior performers are feeling confident and are eager to show the audience their talent.
“We are really excited about the show,” said Liliana Zapatero, senior representative for the upcoming concert. “Overall we are really excited to see all of the hard work paying off.”
The dancers have put in a great deal of thought into the show and started preparing before the semester had even begun. Zapatero talks about the process that she went through with bringing her piece specifically to life.
“I had to come up with what I wanted to explore, how I wanted to explore it and how many people I wanted for my piece,” said Zapatero. “Once I had a concrete idea and had a vision in my head, it was just a matter of going into rehearsal and creating with my cast.”
Aside from zest, the theme of the pieces in the show are entirely individualistic and were personally created by the dancers.
“Everyone has done their own piece, but our theme for the programs, our bios and the poster is zest!” said Zapatero. “To stick closely to that theme, we are using lemons to symbolize the zest our senior class has.”
Naturally, despite the enthusiasm and excitement running high throughout the senior class, there have been some challenges that dancers and choreographers have had to face in preparing for the Zest/i/ful concert.
“Allowing myself to have confidence in my choices in choreography, but being open to change has probably been the hardest part, but also the most rewarding,” said Zapatero.
This is the first performance show for some of the dancers, and they are eager to show what they are capable of through the performances in Zest/i/ful. The choreographers, including Zapatero, are eager to see their pieces on stage in full production.
In addition to Zest/i/ful, the dance department will also have their Spectrum production later on, with which they will close out the semester.
