Dance minor blossoms

Despite the bitter cold and quickly accumulating snow, a large crowd of students and Bloomington residents attended "An Evening of Contemporary Dance" Friday evening. The crowd lined the street, waiting for tickets, in anticipation of viewing the first ever performance from IU dance minors. Though delayed for nearly 20 minutes because of snow, the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre show was almost sold out.\nEstablished in the fall of 2002, the IU dance minor program already has 85 participants. Led by Professor Liz Shea, coordinator of the program, and guided by Gwendolyn Hamm, Coordinator of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Kinesiology, many students are spreading the word about this new minor. \n"Before the dance minor program began, you couldn't really dance at IU if you weren't a ballet major," said Kelly Ferdinand, a junior majoring in English and journalism and minoring in dance. "I've been dancing since I was four years old, and when I came to IU, I could only take some dance classes at the HPER. But the dance minor program has provided a better challenge."\nCatering to all levels of dancers, from novice to advanced, the dance minor program aims to educate while providing performance opportunity. \n"There's not even an audition to be a dance minor," said Lindsay Woodall, a sophomore theater major and dance minor. "You just sign up for the classes that you think are right for your level." \nWoodall chose to become a dance minor in order to further her dance skills.\n"You can take some ballet classes, but being a dance minor allows you to take more diversified classes, like Celtic dance or the History of Dance," said Anjali Sharma, junior majoring in German and minoring in dance. \nThe diversity of modern dance as offered by the dance minor program was demonstrated Friday evening through the six works performed. The program began with "Novelette," choreographed by Shea, with the music played by pianist Kim Carballo. An abstract contemporary work, this piece put into dance the qualities of Francis Poulenc's musical composition "Three Novelettes."\nProfessor Iris Rosa, Director of the IU African American Dance Company, incorporated modern and African dance into her piece, "People of the Earth." Charting the beginning of life in the human form, this piece portrayed cavemen-like dancers in tribal paint and primitive clothing. Beginning and ending with a rain storm, this piece displayed the energy and distinctive movement of African dance.\nDance minors Brittany Crosby, Sarah Gates, and Brittany Snyder danced with sleek lines and flowing skirts in the third piece of the evening, "Undertoad." Choreographed by Diane Buzzell, founder and Artistic Director of the Indiana Dance Theatre, this piece celebrated movement and the art of dance.\nProfessor of theater and drama George Pinney danced along with his students in the fourth piece of the evening, "One Last Tango." Pinney, an Emmy-award-winning and Tony-nominated choreographer, portrayed a choreographer dying of AIDS. With the music of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, Pinney featured dance minor students using ballet, musical theater, and jazz techniques. \nChoreographed by Hamm, "Variations," the fifth selection of the evening, featured dance minors Lori Madl, Sarah Milligan, Erin Romine, Leah Shaheen, Snyder and Salena Watkins. This piece explored change of movement during change of musical form.\n"Between Classes" concluded the program, and was choreographed by Laura Poole. Based on observation of students changing classes at the beginning of fall term, this piece featured students dressed in bright costumes exploring energetic movements. Walkway crossings, the Jordan river, friends meeting, and methods of locomotion were all cues in constructing the piece.\n"I was very pleased with the turnout," Shea said after the program. "The audience was very appreciative. It's so great to see people enjoying modern dance." \nFor more information about the dance minor in the Department of Kinesiology, visit www.indiana.edu/~kines.