Contemporary Dance Ensemble will perform a variety of jazz, modern, pointe pieces in its final show
Posted on March 27, 2008
After many practices and an extra week of rehearsals, the Contemporary Dance Ensemble has been working hard to add the final touches to its upcoming concert. All of this work will pay off this Thursday through Sunday at 8 p.m. in the Latimer-Shaeffer Theatre in Duke Hall.
The dancers have rehearsed every day this week since Sunday. They also had a dress rehearsal Tuesday night in order to practice in the auditorium, according to Ilana Burger, a junior dance and SMAD major.
According to Jillian Boelte, a senior dance major, this week’s rehearsals made the pieces better and will make for a “fabulous show.”
The concert will include a variety of styles including jazz, modern and pointe. Burger said it is a “really good mixture of pieces.”
“There’s an eclectic mix of styles this year, ranging from modern to jazz to a contemporary ballet piece on pointe,” Boelte said.
According to Burger, the Contemporary Dance Ensemble is a company for JMU dance majors and minors in their second to fifth year.
The concert will include performances by faculty, students and dance artists pieces. In the fall, auditions were held for the student choreography. Four student pieces were selected at that time to be performed at the concert.
One of the student pieces by Boelte titled “Indentimies” was taken to the American College Dance Festival about two weeks ago. According to Burger, this festival is held regionally. At this event, the piece was performed and critiqued by many well-known judges. Burger described the festival as a “really good chance to perform [a piece] and get feedback.”
Boelte said, “It was also nice because the dancers were able to have the experience of performing for a very large audience before this concert, which has really pushed the piece to an exciting place.”
Burger said that the style of this concert will be similar to the Senior Dance Concert from earlier this semester, but this show will be professionally lit with professional costumes.
The admission fee is $10 with a JAC Card and $12 for the public.
