Faculty-choreographed dance concert begins Friday

Rebecca Campbell

Thirty dance major and minor students have rehearsed their dance routines since the beginning of September. Faculty choreographers have been working with them for hours, all for one concert: the Dance ’12 Winterplay concert, which begins showing Friday.

“All of the dancers work really well together and are not afraid to ask questions and help each other out,” faculty choreographer Joan Meggitt said. “I think that’s an important part about being in a dance piece, and they are willing to correct each other respectively.”

Times and tickets

The Dance ’12 Winterplay concert will be performed 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday in the E. Turner Stump Theatre in the Music & Speech Building. All undergraduate student tickets are free. Tickets for adults are $16, $14 for Kent State faculty, $12 for seniors and $8 for students 18 and younger.

Meggitt is one of five faculty members who choreographed students’ performances. Other faculty members involved in choreography include Kimberly Karpanty, Erin LaSala, Erin Smith, and Barbara Allegra Verlezza.

Meggitt’s dancers will be performing a modern style piece with post-modern influences. She described her piece as having a lot of movement to point where the dancers are mostly on the floor.

“My piece is very movement-based so it doesn’t have a story or narrative, but I gave myself a couple challenges,” Meggitt said. “Out of the challenges comes ideas and movement.”

Karpanty will have her group of students dancing to the 1970s.

“The costumes, the music, and even the dancing are from the ’70s,” Karpanty said. “It will have people snapping their fingers when they leave.”

Andrea Shearer, director of the dance division, said Karpanty would also perform, along with a 2003 Kent State alumna, Shannon Sefcik. She said that dance music director Bill Sallak with two other members of the Akron Percussion Ensemble will perform as well.

Contact Rebecca Campbell at [email protected].