The vibrant movements and eye-catching costumes were the highlight of the Faculty and Alumni Dance Performance held Dec. 5 to Dec. 7 in the Auditorium.
The dance show, which was directed by Lynn McMurrey, had performances from The Company, The Students of the Ballet Workshop, Barb Erfurt’s Group, The Ramos Dance Theatre, Karyn Klein’s Group, GCC faculty and guests.
While the dance show was free and open to the public, the dance department accepted donations from the audience.
The third performance, “Maelstrom,” which was performed by the GCC student group, The Company, featured the Linkin Park song, “Crawling.” The dancers wore red and black costumes and crawled on stage in search of something.
The fifth act, “Inspiration,” performed by Illiana Nunez-White and Roxanne Onofre, was a performance with two dancers that mirrored each other’s movements. The long dresses and flower hairpins added to the elegance of the routine.
Audience member Elena Akhbari said, “One word to describe the show would be `eccentric,’ because every act completely varied from one performance to the next. The dancers in the show used strong, yet graceful, movements and their energy lit up the stage and spread through the auditorium.”
Similar to last year’s performance, “Communion,” choreographed by GCC faculty member Melissa Randel, allowed students to interact with each other through different roles.
These roles included a busy businessman, a vigorous jogger, a wandering boy and girl.
The comical skit “ClichÇ Clash,” which was performed by Benjamin Magallanes, Robin Ward and Patt Paczynski, introduced a battle between good and evil.
The combat between the two women was the result of the “evil” woman taking away a boyfriend. At the end of the skit, good defeats evil and receives closure.
Student Mariam Gevorkyan said, “The dance performance was unlike anything I have ever seen before. I did not expect the GCC dance department to create such humorous and extraordinary concepts and body movements, especially in the skits.”
The two routines, “Call of the Ancestors,” and “Dance of the Red Drum Girls,” performed by The Company, incorporated Native American and Oriental style movements and music.
The solo performance, “I Refuse,” which was choreographed and performed by Stephanie Zhao, was an emotional piece about a female in love. The performance included a chair as a prop.
The performance, “Show Me the Way,” performed by Tiana DeBell, Maja Wolfe, Karin Shupe, Araz Dersarkissian, Anasheh Abramiyan, Tracy Carter and Fatima Hammou, put the dancers in long, purple dresses as they twirled across the stage.
Another hilarious skit, “Can’t Make Money Tappin,” featured Choreographer Richard Kuller as a tap teacher, and Rhoda Huffey and Andrew Schwartz as his students. The skit started with a class full of unskillful tap students and ends with Huffey and Schwartz as the only students determined to learn how to tap.
The finale, “Can-Can Eccentrique,” choreographed by Kelsi Snoke, presented Can-Can dancers in colorful dresses and seductive movements with male dance partners.