The Spring 2007 Dance Performance, directed by Lynn McMurrey and featuring the best of the GCC Dance Department, kicked off with 12 dance numbers on May 29 in the Sierra Nevada gym.
Some of the dancers comprising these dance numbers featured students from three different dance courses offered, including: The Company, Choreography Workshop and Jazz Workshop.
“Each dance number was choreographed by students from the classes,” said McMurrey. “The costume selections, concepts, music and lighting directions were also selected by the students.”
McMurrey and the rest of the Dance department made certain that the students had some sort of creative control in their routines.
Since the beginning of the spring semester, the students had been working to perfect their routines.
The dance numbers featured in the final performance included: “War,” “The Children of Eve (From M’gori, Kenya to L.A.),” “Candid Adoration,” “Can’t Let You Go,” “Restrained Freedom,” “Where is Your Heart,” “Attitudes,” “Time is Running Out,” “Lifelines,” “Deconce,” “A Beautiful Day” and “She’s Like the Wind.”
The pieces were choreographed by students Daisy Kostanyan, Maria Rutter, Shannon D’Souza, Mario Mason Eileen Goodwin, Selin Minassians, Ani Simonian, Patt Paczynski, Ariel Sands and Esteban Martinez, who choreographed his solo performance, “Restrained Freedom.”
The costumes were wide ranging, from leotards to “Daisy Dukes” to bell-dancing outfits and ball gowns.
Freshman Nare Sahakyan said she thought the costume selections were “well suited for the performances.”
“During the club scene we were dressed revealing and during the lyrical performances, the costumes were comfortable,” she said.
In between the performances there were the dance “Interlopers,” dancers who acted as if they were in a commercial, dressed in flamboyant and bright costumes.
The “Interlopers” were under the direction of the assistant director, Paczynski. They contributed by adding comical flair during the set breaks.
“Life Lines,” directed by Victor Robles, was a performance based on emotions and feelings that one may have encountered in past experiences, according to freshman Lena Ashdjian, a dancer in the Jazz Company.
“The poem was written by all of us [in the Jazz Company],” said Ashdjian. “We put our hearts into the piece with the poem we wrote,” she added.
Expertise among the dancers ranger from beginner to advanced. Ashdjian, who has been dancing since she was in middle school, said that the experience or lack there of from the other dancers, did not matter.
“[During the performances] it felt like we were all equally experienced,” said Ashdjian.
“We try to push people beyond what they think they can do and they always give that to us,” said McMurrey. “I am very proud of them.”