By Linah Mohammad/se news editor

SE dance students will show off their skills in Dance Works at 7:30 p.m. May 7-8 in the C.A. Roberson Theatre.

“This concert will showcase students currently enrolled in dance classes and will feature the student dance ensemble, Rhapsody Movement Company,” said Jamie Perrin, SE dance instructor. “There will also be performances with live music, the dance faculty and guest artists.”

The show will be the students’ final exam and will feature everything the students have worked on all semester.

“Instead of taking a test on a Scantron, their test is performing on a stage with costumes, lights and in front of the audience,” Perrin said.

The music Perrin chooses has a similar style to the popular hits. However, it’s not popular.

“I spend a lot of time on YouTube and iTunes,” she said. “I like things that people haven’t necessarily heard yet. Because things get overplayed and you’re like, ‘Oh! It’s this song again.’ It gets boring.”

In an effort to add variety, Perrin choreographs to both the music and the lyrics.

“I choreograph to both things [lyrics and music],” she said. “I like to change up the dynamics, so I don’t just listen to the lyrics, and I don’t just listen to the musicality. We’re using the whole song not just part of it.”

Grace McGhee, a student choreographer and one of Perrin’s former students, is guest choreographing one of the Rhapsody Movement Company dances.

“It’s empowering! The fact that I can come and teach after I’ve learned so much from her [Perrin],” McGhee said. “The best and most challenging part was coming up with the choreography because I tend to think of things on the spot.”

One of the students participating, Rachel Elliot, said she finds the style of dancing the toughest part because it is different from what she is used to.

“My favorite dance is probably the last one we’re doing,” she said. “She [Perrin] calls it the J-ography.”

Nick Levingston, another dance company member, said the J-ography is his favorite as well.

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Martha Hernandez and Tyler Rowe, members of Rhapsody Movement Company, practice their performance during their dance class.

“It’s about losing someone and, like, those struggles of losing someone,” he said. “I really love that piece.”

Briana Lee agreed with Levingston.

“That one allows you to go into that place that some people don’t always go into,” she said. “I can go into these feelings that I hold in, and I can just let them out through my movement.”

Dance Works

7:30 p.m. May 7-8

SE Campus

C.A. Roberson Theatre

Admission:

Free for TCC students, faculty and staff

$5 for the general public

Tickets:

 For reservations, call 817-515-3599.

All tickets must be picked up by 7:15 p.m. on the night of the performance or tickets will be released to the public to be sold.