The Kent State dance department travels to SUNY College at Brockport New York today to participate in the American College Dance Festival.

“We pretty much have to shut down because of how many students participate,” said associate dance professor Andrea Shearer, who is traveling to the festival and also teaching a class.

After viewing a professional dance concert tonight, students from between 20 and 30 regional colleges will participate in a “smorgasbord of dance classes,” Shearer said. Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be filled with all types of dance classes: from modern and ballet to hip-hop and Chinese-style dances.

“If we’re a little tiny pond, this is a lake,” Shearer said, comparing Kent State to the gathering in New York. “We’re not jumping in the ocean yet.”

Each college brings several dances to present to a panel of three judges. The judges then critique each dance, and at the end of the week, they pick winners that will be performed in one of two Sunday gala performances.

Kent State is bringing two dances. Senior dance performance major David Burrington choroegraphed a dance for his Bachelor of Fine Arts project which will make its debut at the dance festival. The other dance was choreographed by Kent State alumna Gina Kohler for this spring’s Kent Dance Ensemble performance.

-Elizabeth Myers