Dance students prepare for Spring concert, work with talented faculty

Louren Mcintosh

Managing Editor

If you’re looking for a night full of art and entertainment, the BC Spring 2018 Dance concert is it. 

Every school semester, Broward College holds a Fall and Spring Dance Concert where BC students come together to create a beautiful ensemble of visual arts and dance performed in Bailey Hall. 

The concert is composed of multiple short works of dance, that average around 10 minutes long. 

Each work is created by a different choreographer that specializes in a specific genre of dance and has a certain narrative that they choose for their dancers to display. The choreographers include members of the BC faculty, BC’s very own students and artists from the community.

At the concert that will take place this term, the students will have the chance to perform an “intensive,” which is a work learned in only two weeks [before the concert], choregraphed by a dancer from the Rioult Dance Company in New York.

“This is an incredible opportunity to have a professional from this amazing company working with us,” said Daniella Wacier, the Assistant Professor of Dance at Broward College.

The concert is not selective to a certain genre of dance, it features works of modern dance, hip hop and many themes created by the choreographers.

“There are so many dance genres out there, the more diversity that you have, the more skilled our dancers will be. Our goal is to create and display diversity,” said Wacier.

The dancers, faculty and choreographers work for months to create such a spectacular night of entertainment. 

The magic begins just two weeks into the term, when the choreographers begin to hold auditions for the dancers that will be performing in the concert. Once the dancers are selected, the days of dedication and industrious rehearsals begin.

“The dancers begin the rehearsal by stretching while I play the song. Then, we just keep choregraphing and going over the dance movements while I record it,” said student choreographer and dancer, Vanessa Bembanaste.

This is Bembanaste’s second year at Broward College and she plans on pursuing a dance major at USF or Nova Southeastern University after BC.

Along with Bembanaste, her fellow dancer and choreographer, Adrienne Khouri, also plans on pursuing a career in Dance as this is her last Broward College Dance concert. 

Khouri has been in 7 previous Dance concerts, but this semester she will challenge herself and try new choreography that she hasn’t done.

“Within the next year, I plan on moving to L.A. and becoming a commercial dancer,” said Khouri.

The concert not only includes short works of dance, but a pre-show video or live performance that is created by one of the BC students in “Dance Composition” class. This is the opportunity to warm the audience up and get them prepared for what is about to take place.

The Spring 2018 Dance concert will feature new students, new choreography and provide a spectacular night of entertainment.

 “You can expect a lot of awesome. This is a culmination of all their [BC student dancers’] hard work. A lot of different movement styles coming together to put on a great show,” said Sabrina Talamo, an Adjunct Professor in the Dance Program, who choregraphs a short in the Spring 2018 Dance Concert.

The concert is on April 6 and 7 held in Bailey Hall on Broward College’s Central Campus. The pre-show begins around 7:30 p.m., the concert beginning immediately after. 

Tickets for the concert are free for BC students with their I.D. and $5 for students of other schools with their student I.D., faculty, children and senior citizens. General admission is $10.

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