By Perla Gonzalez/reporter
Students who showed more interest in choreography resulted in two end-of-the-semester dance concerts on South Campus this month.
Voices from the Vault, the seventh annual fall concerts, will be at 8:30 p.m. Dec. 3-4 while an informal concert featuring South technique classes will be at 1 p.m. Dec. 4. Both are in the Carillon Theater of the Joe B. Rushing Center for Performing Arts.
The Voices concerts feature both resident dance companies, Velocity I and Velocity II. Seventeen dancers will illustrate human emotions, ranging from innocence and joy to heartache and struggle and ultimately to acceptance and celebration. Their style is also broad, from modern and jazz to contemporary ballet and hip-hop.
“We were also interested in creating a different kind of show — a concert that explored one common theme and simultaneously challenged our company dancers in a different and more professional concert environment,” dance associate professor Gypsy Ingram said. “We are always working on presenting our dancers with experiences that they will encounter in the professional world, and an evening-length concert work does just that.”
Ingram also explained the main focus for this presentation.
“We look around us every day and see a generation that seems to struggle with the idea of how to grow up, negotiate all the things that life throws at you and emerge on the other side of all that stuff and still be strong, positive, mature adults,” she said.
“We want to make a statement that even when life throws negativity at you, we all have a choice to make. We can choose to rise above all that and celebrate who we are and engage ourselves in our communities.”
All Velocity I students are choreographers, many of them veteran dancers with the company eager to do more than just perform.
Naomi Felton choreographed a duet set on two women exploring the chase of personal dreams.
Neiman Calvin’s piece, set with six dancers, explores the push and pull that exists between staying true to oneself or giving in to the demands of the world.
Kenneth Busby’s solo shows the exploration of the divergent parts of self, the many parts that fight for control and attention.
Ingram is pleased with the talents her students have shown.
“They have really been thoughtful and reflective in their pursuit of their work, and they have each challenged themselves to make work that is more than just movement for movement’s sake,” she said.
“Each dance makes a statement and presents the audience with multiple opportunities to connect to their own experiences.”
Ingram believes the audience will enjoy the performance.
“I know the audience will see themselves and their own experiences in this show and, at the end of the day, leave the theater feeling connected to what they have just seen,” she said. “That means that true art has happened.”
The formal concert will run one and a half hours with no intermission.
The box office will open at 7 p.m. Tickets are free for all TCC students, faculty and staff with a valid student ID and $5 for general admission.
No reservations are required, but it is recommended to arrive early.
