The Slippery Rock University Dance Department presents its boundary pushing, cutting edge Emerging Artists Dance Concert with two shows, 7 p.m., Jan. 30, and 2 p.m., Jan. 31, at the Performing Arts Center’s Miller Theater. Tickets are available for purchase for $15 at www.sru.edu/tickets.
This unique concert is an important tradition in the SRU Dance Department, highlighting the choreography of SRU students and lifting up the creative voices of the next generation of dance artists. This year’s concert offerings are the creations of junior and senior dance majors:
- Gianna Dobrich, a senior dance major from Erie (Mercyhurst Preparatory HS).
- Abbey Dowler, a senior dance major from Weirton, West Virginia (Weir HS).
- Rayna Halper, a senior dance major from Mars (Mars HS)
- Hanna Herrmann, a senior dance major from Cranberry Township (Lincoln Park HS).
- Lauren Mortimer, a senior dual early childhood education and dance major from Butler (Butler HS).
- Julia Record, a senior dance major from Hubbard, Ohio (Hubbard HS).
- Paula Rodríguez-Alvarez, a senior dance major from San Rafael, Costa Rica.
- Mari Sprague, a senior dance major from Buffalo, New York.
- Wolfgang Nicholson, a senior dance major from New Castle (Lincoln Park HS).
Their pieces represent themes ranging from identity to gluttony and consumption as well engaging with historical and political subjects, all expressed through movement. The numbers include solo works, duets and energetic, large groups.
Alongside these exciting student pieces, Emerging Artists also features works by guest choreographers who are currently working professionals in the dance world.
Shakia Barron’s choreography brings together styles of classic Hip Hop, Funk and House moves to create a vibrant feeling of celebration and community. Pittsburgh-based Jaka Zakajinn’s contemporary choreography also approaches community, accomplishing this vision through the movement of a large group of dancers moving as one, focusing on themes of isolation and connection.
The concert will conclude with a restaging of postmodern choreographer Trisha Brown’s iconic “Solo Olos,” a piece performed by SRU students that Jennifer Keller, professor of dance and department chair, calls “genius,” vowing that the student dancers “have become masterminds at performing this choreographic jigsaw puzzle.”
More information about the dance program at SRU is available on the program webpage.
More information about dance performance is available on the department webpage.
