By Mario Montalvo/ne news editor
The NE communication arts department will hold its spring dance performance at 7:30 p.m. March 30 and at 2 and 7:30 p.m. March 31 in the NFAB theater.
The show is a collaborative effort between dance students and Movers Unlimited, a NE audition-based dance company.
The show’s director, dance associate professor Kihyoung Choi, choreographed one of the performances in the show titled “Particles,” which Choi said was inspired by the movement of dust particles floating in a beam of light.
Second-year dance student and Movers Unlimited member Olivia Oswalt said the piece means something different for everyone.
“It’s about how you feel comfortable in your everyday life in society, but then you’re trying to get out, but then you can’t, but that’s OK,” she said.
The department’s spring show has been pushed up to March. The group is also competing in the American College Dance Festival, which cuts into their rehearsal time, said student director Jeremy Spradling. He estimates the group is losing about 15 hours of rehearsal time this year. Still, he maintains a positive outlook.
“We’re going to be gone for a week, plus we have spring break and then we have a week of school and then our show,” he said. “So everyone’s been really, really focused this year and working really hard.”
Oswalt said she’s danced with everyone in the show before, but this is the hardest she’s ever seen them work.
“The show is really a big deal for all of us,” she said. “We’re all just pulling together and doing our best.”
While many students would curse their instructors for working them so hard, both students had nothing but praise for theirs.
Oswalt has danced for eight years and said Choi is the best dance teacher she’s ever had.
Spradling, who was a theater major, took dance to help him in musical theater. He fell in love with dance so much that he changed his major.
“I love it over here,” he said. “Linda [Quinn] and Kihyoung have both been great role models for me, and I love everything they’re about.”
Tickets can be purchased in the NE business services office. They are free to TCC students, faculty and staff with a TCC ID and $5 for the general public. Contact Choi at kihyoung.choi@tccd.edu for more information.
