Graduate dance students will showcase their work in student choreographed pieces in a concert on Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center Dance Theater.
The Graduate Student Concert, held each semester, will feature 11 performances including student choreographed dances and a piece by SHSU faculty member performed by graduate students.
“This is an opportunity for the MFA candidates to gain choreographic experience as well as offer the undergraduate students a performance opportunity,” Laura Harrell, concert director, said.
“This concert allows the graduate students to present their work in a professional venue.”
Harrell, a graduate student, will also be presenting a piece of her choreography and dancing in two works.
According to Harrell, the wide array of dances will showcase the diversity of work among the M.F.A candidates and feature modern, jazz, tap and musical theater dance styles from solo and group performers.
Among the pieces to be performed are “Climbing Scenes” in which five dancers make use of ladders to create different scenes; a duet titled “Push, Shove, Negotiate;” and “Move Over”, a tap dance about the empowerment of women set to the music of Janis Joplin.
Six graduate students will perform a work that addresses loss and love choreographed by SHSU Dance Lecturer Erin Reck.
With Dance Spectrum happening later this month, Harrell said they “may feature common dancers, but both are collaborative concerts that showcase very diverse works.”
The concert will not only be beneficial for dance students, but will offer an opportunity for the audience as well.
“We want them to have an experience, whether it is emotional or physical,” Harrell said.
“We want them to leave with a deeper appreciation of concert dance and challenge themselves to see things from a different point of view.”
Tickets for the Graduate Student Concert are $12 for general admission, $10 for students, and can be purchased through the PAC Box office at 936-294-2339.