The Pierce College annual spring dance concert will showcase 16 original choreographed dance pieces where the audience members can expect to be captivated by raw and personal stories. The concert will run from May 20 and 21 from 8 p.m. and May 22 at 2 p.m.
‘Vignettes’ are a compilation of little stories or memories that tell powerful scenes in a person’s life and the dance department intends to tell stories of their own with the choreographers providing the story to the dancers and together involving their own memories through the power of dance.
“A lot of the students have been through difficult situations in their lives such as the loss of a family member or trying to find a home,” said creative dance director Denise Gibson. “All the topics relate to experiences the student have gone through and we are trying to tell their stories through little books, which is why it’s titled ‘Vignettes,’” Gibson said.
This performance will mark the second time the dance department will be using the performing arts building which has allowed the team to have a bigger cast from previous performances.
Although, attendance has been difficult for some dancers to attend practice, Gibson is excited in seeing her students succeed.
“Opening night is really exciting and it’s nice to see the end product from what the students have been working for the past three months,” Gibson said.
Student choreographer and dancer Sandy Luque, who has been dancing for about 15 years, choreographed two dance pieces and will be performing in four of the 16 dances. One of the choreographed dances being a contemporary ballet titled “Field of Melodies” and featuring 11 dancers and the music being an instrumental version of Coldplay’s song, “Yellow”.
This dance piece is special to Luque since she’s dedicating it to her brother who passed away in November of 2015 and the song she is dancing to was her brother’s favorite from the band.
“This is kind of a celebration of life,” Luque said. “It’s just to be thankful for another day in life and to remember those beautiful moments in life that make your life special.”
Luque hopes that the audience can be thankful for being alive and thankful for every moment that makes them happy after watching each dance performance.
“I know that life is full of surprises and sometimes things hurt but I think that life is about remembering those little things or seconds that make you happy,” Luque said.
Another dance genre that the audience will be captivated and shocked by is a musical theater piece that 22-year-old student choreographer and dancer Briana Bauer decided to do as a last minute addition to the concert.
“I love the genre of musical theater and we are doing “Big Spender” from the show Cabaret and it’s so much fun to do. There’s so much personality and it’s sexy,” Bauer said.
Bauer is excited to perform it because out of all the pieces it’s the most different because it has that “shock value” since it’s sexy and the only musical theater piece on the concert.
“There’s usually more modern and ballet genres but I think people will definitely remember this piece,” Bauer said.
Tickets for the concert are only $10 and are available to purchase by phone: (818) 610-6598 or online at brownpapertickets.com
