Septembre Russell

Dance groups and students on campus are preparing to perform a variety of dances in an attempt to move audiences toward the sphere of dance. They will perform in a showcase at 8 p.m. Dec. 6 in Ice Auditorium.

The showcase will feature the belly dancing club, hip-hop and jazz styles, as well as an African piece put together by the sponsor of the showcase, Adjunct Professor of Dance Emily Crocker. All other pieces are choreographed by students.

Outside of reserving the space, organizing performers and making sure certain things get done, Crocker said her role as sponsor is pretty hands-off.

“Somebody said it would be great to do something in the fall, and I thought, ‘Why not?’” Crocker said. “So I asked a couple different clubs and opened it up to a couple of students to choreograph.”

Part of the purpose behind the showcase, Crocker said, is an effort to increase communication.

“There is dance going on on campus, and we’re not communicating,” she said.  “I feel as dancers we should at least know who we are.”

Crocker said she tried to include all the dance clubs at Linfield; she invited everyone she could think of to contribute.

“My personal theme was to get as many different kind of groups together as I could,” Crocker said. “So if you were a new student to Linfield, or just interested in dance, you could see the show and get an idea of what kinds of things you could be involved with.” 

This is the first year a showcase of this type will be performed in the fall.

“We do a showcase in the spring, but this is the first time we’ve done this in the fall,” Crocker said. “Hopefully, it will work out, and we’ll be able to do both every year.”

Crocker said the fall showcase is more open-ended than in the spring. The showcase in the spring is through the dance ensemble class and is student-produced.

“The fall showcase is a little more informal,” she said. “We’re not doing theatrical lighting; we’re not doing a fancy program.”

Choreographers and dancers can benefit from having both shows, Crocker said. Choreographers will have the opportunity to choreograph in the fall and spring, and dancers will have two performing prospects.

Sophomore Stephanie Anderson is a student choreographer for the showcase. She said her piece for the show is a mix of modern and jazz styles.            

“I’m taking African dance right now,” Anderson said. “I get inspiration from a lot of different things, but I definitely found a lot of my inspiration in that class, which kind of found its way into my piece.”

Crocker and Anderson said they hope people will take advantage of both shows.

Performing is different than taking a class. Without a lot of performance opportunities, people don’t get to experience that aspect of it, Crocker said.

“It’s really exciting to do something that you’ve worked so hard on, and for other people to see it and enjoy it, it’s really
gratifying,” Anderson said.

Many opportunities are available if people want to get involved, Anderson said; people are willing to help others dance.

“I’m trying to get more momentum for dance on campus; I know that I have students who are really excited about it, too, and want more dance opportunities,” Crocker said.