Senior dance students premiered the Senior Capstone Dance Concert Thursday at 7 p.m. and concluded their final showing Saturday evening. Seven new routines were performed and choreographed by seniors earning their bachelor’s in fine arts.
Tickets were free for OU students, with general admission tickets costing $10.
Students and guests shuffled into the Shirley Wimmer Dance Theater in Putnam Hall on 96 E. Union St. The concert ran for one hour, allowing viewers to soak in each dance. While performances only lasted for a few minutes, choreographers and dancers have spent months practicing, refining and perfecting each routine.
Annabelle Coleman, a senior studying dance performance and choreography, said dancers have been preparing for this concert since their freshman year.
“We’ve been taking composition classes every single semester for choreography and learning how to choreograph set work on people,” Coleman said. “And then last year, we did junior projects as kind of more of a step up to put something on stage.”
Routines included “The Light You Give” choreographed by Lainey Harbert, “The Secret of the Waterfall” choreographed by Chloe Stocksett, “In their Wake” choreographed by Coleman and dancers, “The Shape of Absence // The Weight of Return” choreographed by Aliya Abeid, “House, not a Home” choreographed by Hallee Cremeans, “01271945” choreographed by Josephine Forrest and “As if by Wings” choreographed by Gwendolyn Cardimen.
Choreographers began building their routines at the start of this semester, but brainstorming began even earlier.
“As far as the concepts for this concert, we started preparing for those in April,” Harbert, a senior studying dance performance and choreography, said. “Basically, right after the junior projects that we showed, we immediately started to create new ideas and start thinking about how and what we can develop into a dance.”
Both Coleman and Harbert said a common misconception about dance majors is their workload is light. In reality, the major can be mentally and physically draining.
“I would personally say a lot of people think it’s easy, and they’re like, ‘Oh, you’re just a dance major, you get to go do your fun little dance major classes,’” Coleman said. “Yes, it’s fun and it brings us joy, but it’s a lot of work and the burnout is real. It’s not like we can go out one night and show up hungover to class; we are dancing every single day. Not only is it physically taxing on our bodies, but it’s mentally taxing as well.”
Throughout the semester, rehearsals were held twice a week, lasting two hours. Each dance varied in concept, with choreographers pouring their heart and soul into the routines; every dance had a personal touch.
“For all the seniors, we each have our own piece, so it’s very collaborative in the sense that we all have to put on the concert together, but it’s individual in the sense that we each choreograph our own piece by ourselves,” Cardimen, a senior studying dance performance and choreography, said.
Stocksett, a senior double majoring in dance performance and choreography and psychology, said all dances followed a similar genre.
“There will be seven new works by the dance majors, the senior class, and it’s more of a modern-based program,” Stocksett said. “So most of the dances are modern. They all explore different themes … so there’s one solo and six large group pieces.”
Stocksett said the artistic process of choreographing a dance can be challenging, and she experienced creative blocks.
“For a while, I didn’t really know exactly what I wanted my piece to convey … and then that’s really hard for the dancers too … figuring that out, exactly what I wanted, because it’s difficult if you have a lot of ideas,” Stocksett said.
Alyson Thorngate, a sophomore double majoring in dance and choreography and early childhood education, performed in Coleman’s dance and said she prepared for weeks.
“The rehearsal process can be very demanding, but also very intricate with my fellow dancers because not only does it help us connect to the piece, but it also helps us connect to each other,” Thorngate said.
Thorngate, who has danced for 17 years and comes from a ballet background, said she was excited for everyone’s reaction to the show.
“I love my family members and my friends seeing the different styles, but also the audience in general,” she said. “I love hearing everyone’s feedback and if they enjoyed it, and just what they thought about it.”
After weeks, months and years of preparation, the senior dance capstone concert began and concluded in one weekend; yet, the skills, experience and learning are imperishable.
“(This experience) has taught me a lot, especially a lot of patience,” Stocksett said. “With the program, you learn all of these choreographic skills, but it is the first time I’ve been able to apply them to a large group of people. It was difficult and challenging but it taught me how to approach things differently.”
