Kevin Peyton
With auditions having come and gone, the dancers who gather on Sundays in Pierce College’s North Gym can now focus on rehearsing for their upcoming concert.
The concert, titled “Montage… the World… the Culture… the Dance,” will be taking place on the Performance Arts Building’s main stage, Saturday Nov. 21 at 8:00 p.m. A second preformance will take place on Sunday Nov. 22 at 2:00 p.m.
Folk dances from around the globe will be featured in the concert, including such countries as Holland, Brazil, Israel, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, and Germany. Each country has its own distinctive style of folk dance.
“Dance is great for the body and brain,” said dance instructor and Director of the concert Marian Weiserin. “Dance is so challenging, so exciting, so wonderfully artistic. Everyone should dance.”
Live music will also be played at the event. Different styles of music will be played for each individual country or region. The choreographers choose the songs that are going to be performed, with Africa’s portion of the concert scheduled to include live drumming.
Auditions for the concert occured Sept. 20. The Oct. 18 audition dates that were posted on the pierce college schedule of classes were incorrect, according to Weiser. No more auditions are going to be held for this semester.
Rehearsals have been taking place every Sunday since Sept. 20 and can begin for some dancers as early as 7:45 a.m.
“Rehearsals are extremely exhausting,” said Pierce College student and dancer Dianna Chutuk-Hynick, who has been rehearsing for her roles in the folk dances from Holland and Africa. She is able to make it through the tiring rehearsals because she is “passionate about dance.”
“they really work hard – they have no choice,” said Weiser when asked about her dancers work ethic.
The dance concert is funded by the dance club, which raises money by conducting bake sales and car washes. Money is also raised through the concert’s ticket sales.
“Anybody can belong to the dance club,” Weiser said. “Anybody that has interest in supporting the performance groups on this campus. Anybody can belong.”
General admission for center section seating in the theatre will be sold for $10, with side section portions of the theatre being sold for $8. Students and seniors can recieve a discounted rate of $6 for side section seating.
Ticket information is available by calling (818) 710-4355 or by inquiring in North Gym room 5614A.