Faith Miller
Florida Southern College’s Dance Program will hold its first virtual performance,featuring pieces that were originally planned to be performed in spring, along with new numbers choreographed for the current fall season.
“Fall Into Dance” will be performed on a live stream on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday, Nov. 1 at 2:30 p.m.
The performances will take place in the Branscomb Memorial Auditorium and will be streamed through the FSC Festival of Fine Arts YouTube channel.
Senior Sadie Reimer described the show as “A collection of works that represent specific aesthetics or moments in time.”
“There is no overarching theme for the fall concert, however I think that all of the pieces play off of different life experiences,” Reimer said.
According to Erin LaSala-Phillips, the Dance Program Coordinator and an Associate Professor of Dance at FSC, the show will include 24 dance program majors and minors. These students will perform several styles of dance, including contemporary modern dance, jazz, and contemporary ballet. Along with this, students will also perform some numbers that were originally planned for the spring 2020 performance, an example being “Giselle,” which will be performed in the first act. The second act of the show will include faculty choreography, along with several invited guest choreographers.
“I am looking forward to these works finally being shown to a larger audience,” said LaSala-Phillips regarding the pieces from the 2020 show.
LaSala-Phillips said that she enjoys multiple styles of dance and believes each has its own “unique and intriguing qualities.” She explains the show has a “little something for everyone” and will appeal to multiple audiences.
LaSala-Phillips said that some of the precautions taken to ensure the performers’ safety include temperature checks prior to every rehearsal, along with social distancing being incorporated into all the dances.
“Being able to live stream the shows is certainly wonderful, especially since a lot of us have family and friends who live far away and haven’t been able to see us perform, but it is going to feel really weird performing to an empty audience,” Reimer said.
The program has limited the number of performers in each dance to a maximum of 12, since these are the guidelines in the Wynee Warden Dance Studio, where rehearsals have been taking place. All traditional partnering has also been removed, along with close proximity for extended periods of times. The guest artist this semester taught the dancers choreography for the piece through Zoom, the students would then rehearse the movements and stage the piece in the Wynee Warden Dance Studio.
LaSala-Phillips said that the program hopes for the possibility of a live performance for the spring 2021 show; however, if this is not the case, they will follow the safety measures put forth by the college and will do what is best for performers and viewers.
Link to watch: https://youtu.be/KRVX1WWHA_E
