The 20th annual Student Dance Project will be Dec. 1-2 at 7:30 p.m. in the Temple Building’s Howell Theatre.
The annual Student Dance Project is a program of original work by student choreographers in the Glenn Korff School of Music’s Dance Composition course, taught by Associate Professor of Dance Susan Ourada, in collaboration with design students studying with Assistant Professor of Theatre Michelle Harvey in the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film.
This year’s show features work by 20 choreographers and seven designers and has the largest cast of performers to date with 50 dancers participating.
“Ranging from solos to large group works, the students have crafted high quality work that showcases their ongoing development as makers in dance and design,” Ourada said. “And the performances highlight the strong commitment the dancers have to growing their technical and performative chops. You will not want to miss this concert.”
Abby Brady, a senior dance, global studies and French major from Overland Park, Kansas, has choreographed a piece titled “Chasing the Present.”
“My piece centers around the idea of trying to balance all the different things people have to do in their lives while still trying to remain centered in the present moment and understanding that oftentimes these two things can seem mutually exclusive when we take on too much,” she said. “If you try to give your 100 percent in everything you do and prioritize all these different things, are you really prioritizing anything in the end? And what do you lose as a result? My piece explores this, as well as what can be achieved by accepting that you have limits and allowing others to help you. It is called ‘Chasing the Present’ because we spend so much time moving so quickly through life when in reality all we have is right now and the goal should be not to chase the future and what it may have for us, but rather to remain in the present and enjoy what is already around us.”
Brady said the Student Dance Project is important to her development as a choreographer.
“It gives me a creative outlet to express myself and what is important to me in the best way I know how,” she said. “It also allows me to share my work and my message with people who may need to hear it and be impacted by it. I also feel that getting to put my work out to different audiences of people allows me to get valuable feedback that helps me to grow and to develop further as a choreographer.”
She hopes people attend the performances.
“As a senior, I am so truly thankful for the dance program and all the opportunities it has provided me with and am so sad that this will be my final Student Dance Project,” Brady said. “But I definitely saved the best for last and can’t wait for people to see this show.”
Tickets for the performance are $10 general admission and $5 for students/seniors and are available in advance only online at https://go.unl.edu/gksomtickets or by calling (800) 595-4849.
The Temple Building is located at 12th and R streets on the University of Nebraska–Lincoln city campus.