Spring dance concert features student led choreography

The annual Spring Dance Concert will be Friday through Saturday at The Oscar Larson Theater.

Start times are 7:30 p.m. on Fri, Sat and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Every year the dance concert’s theme changes, this year the theme is “Be,” which stemmed from the Theatre and Dance’s 2024-2025 season theme “Freedom.”

Melissa Hauschild-Mork, the director of the Spring Dance Concert: Be, said, “Each choreographer found meaning in these themes based on their own experiences, questions or curiosities.”

Hauschild-Mork coordinates the dance minor and teaches all the dance courses and is the resident choreographer for State University Theatre and Prairie Repertory Theatre.

She has been working collaboratively with Erik Ritter, who is an instructor from the School of Design, as well as Ritter’s students. She’s also been working with Aaron Ragsdale, the professor of percussion, and four percussion students and four dancers.

The work is titled Meet Me in the Silence. It is a dance piece building from the text by Ralph Waldo Trine in his book “This Mystical Life of Ours,” first published in 1897.

Hauschild-Mork said she was initially moved by Trine’s text, which sent her in search of music.

“I found a piece written for four marimbas and asked if Ragsdale, the professor of percussion, might have students interested in playing the piece for this new work.

She then reached out to Ritter in the School of Design to see if he was interested in collaborating on the piece.

“Ritter and I spent hours discussing thoughts and images rooted in the idea of  ‘Silence’ and developed a framework for the piece,” she said.

Once the framework was established, she asked Corey Shelsta, a professor in the School of Performing Arts, to develop a lighting design to go with the piece. Ritter has been working with a group of students to develop visual elements for the dance and Hauschild-Mork has been working with a group of four dancers to develop the movement content.

“The movement for the dance has all been created through prompted exploration and improvisation and ultimately curated into the choreography that will premiere on the upcoming concert,” Hauschild-Mork said.

When asked what her favorite part of the dance concert is, Hauschild-Mork said, “An appreciation for concert dance performance, for young artists and their artistic voices, and the power of collaboration.”

Theater lighting design students have been paired with each choreographer to develop lighting for each dance to uphold the choreographic intent.

Another collaboration for this year’s dance concert is a collaborative dance film. Senior dance minor Olivia Gabrielson, along with two technical students, Nick Teal and Jake Hilmoe, have been working on this film project since September.

Hauschild-Mork said she is proud of all these students’ professionalism, discipline and creativity. She is grateful for the theatre students who share their gifts and talents as designers, costume designers, wardrobe assistants, stage managers and board operators.

Every choreographer has brought their own individual style to the concert stage and their dance, she said.

Senior dance choreographer, Chloe Bender, has been dancing for 18 years. She has chosen to choreograph a dance to the song “Achilles Come Down” by Gang of Youths.

“I chose this song because I wanted to explore the theme of learning to live and grow with the human emotion anxiety with the music taking Achilles through a struggle with mental health,” Bender said.

She choreographed another dance to “Nina Cried Power” by Hozier for her senior showcase that will be performed again for the spring concert.

“My piece to ‘Nina Cried Power’ is about coming together in a group to call for change and use the power of a shared voice to cause the change you strive for in the world,” Bender said.

When asked what she hopes the audience gets from her piece, Bender said, “I hope the audience takes away a sense of belonging and empowerment after watching my pieces.”

Bender said she is proud to see the arts growing and appreciates the support from her peers and faculty members.

Kirynn Engelbrecht, a sophomore dancer, said she decided to be a part of the Spring Dance Concert: Be because she did it last year and had a lot of fun.

“I really enjoy the process of seeing how each student choreographs their dances differently through different styles, stories, and song choices,” she said.

Engelbrecht described this year’s dance concert as energetic and personal with each choreographer having a person or a story to dedicate their dance to.

“The students got to choose different words that felt right to describe their dances such as be vulnerable, be yourself, and be confident and that has opened up such different styles of dances this year,” Engelbrecht said.

SDSU students get in free with their student ID. Tickets can be purchased at the box office starting an hour-and-a-half before each performance or online at sdstate.evenue.net.