After a long summer break, dance majors were welcomed back into the studio by dance teachers Natalie Uehara and Terrance Carson. Once reacquainted with the space, classmates and program, the dancers began the process of adjudications. This process is when each major is assigned a dance style or dance pioneer, something they are unfamiliar with and not trained in, and create a piece centered around it. Depending on how long they have been a part of the program, they are assigned a solo, duet or trio. The emerging dancers, made up of the first-year dance majors, perform duets and trios, while the evolving and pre-pro juniors perform solos. After curating their piece, the dancers then show it to a panel of judges who score them and select who gets to perform in the show. On Oct. 14 the selected dancers put on a show consisting of what the judges saw as the strongest pieces.
Junior pre-professional member Campbell Epperly was very excited about being chosen for the show.
“I’m very happy that the majority of juniors got chosen to be in the show,” Epperly said. “We all got the experience of being in the show as a class which was very cool.”
While performing and creating their piece is a highlight for most dancers, Epperly enjoyed getting to see everyone’s personal pieces they came up with.
“I love watching people perform their piece because I love to see everybody’s own interpretations of dance,” Epperly said. “Seeing everybody’s strengths, styles and creativities is very inspiring. It’s just really cool seeing everybody’s imagination go through their piece and from their inspiration from their artist.”
Similar to Epperly, sophomore emerging dance major Quincy Clark enjoyed getting to see everyone’s individual dance styles play out in their pieces.
“That was my favorite part because everyone has such different interesting forms of dance and it was really cool and inspiring,” Clark said.
For some dance majors, this was a new opportunity to try something they had not done much before.
“It was really cool getting to choreograph the duet because I’ve never choreographed something before,” Clark said.
For emerging dancers, this was their second time being a part of adjudications but their first time performing a solo. Sophomore emerging dance major Owen Fronk loved getting the opportunity to show her own choreography.
“Choreographing my own solo was a really cool experience,” Fronk said. “It helped me learn a lot about myself and gave me a new appreciation for our choreographers who come in to help us.”
Sophomore evolving dance major Sophie Perez also enjoyed getting chosen to perform onstage, especially after the effort she had put in.
“It was really nice to be able to show something that I’d worked hard on for a really long time,” Perez said. “Especially with costumes and all the lighting, it was really cool.”
Before being able to perform their solo, the dancers have to undergo a long process in order to prepare for their audition and show.
“First, I was assigned a dance pioneer and started watching videos of his work and choreography,” Perez said. “After that I began creating my own choreography over multiple days and found a song that matched. Finally I put all of my ideas together to create the final piece.”
After performing this year, Perez has some new goals in mind for next year’s process to help her perform even better.
“I think for next year, I’m just excited to see what new choreography I can come up with with the new dance innovator that I’m assigned,” Perez said. “I can work on making my piece longer and spending even more time on making it better.”
After weeks of working to put together their pieces, all the dance major classes come together for several days of rehearsals leading up to the show, resulting in bonding and lots of time spent together as a class.
“I just love spending show days at the PAC, rehearsing and being with all my friends,” Epperly said. “Working in a show is very fun, and this year, it is especially fun because I got to do a solo, so it was all my creativity and what I put into it.”
