Winter dance concert

     Eastern’s department of dance will be performing an end-of-semester production entitled “A Time to Reap” on Dec. 9 and 10 at 8 p.m. and Dec. 11 at 3 p.m. The dancers will take the McInnis stage in an entertaining and moving performance with the intent of reaching the audience through the emotion and passion of their movements. Director Stephen Welsh shares that “despite the recent downsizing of the department, Eastern’s dance community has a renewed sense of urgency” as they prepare these compelling pieces to perform for the University.

     Attendees of the show will have the opportunity to experience styles of dance ranging from ballet to modern to jazz, and they will get to witness the dance majors and minors of Eastern express themselves through dance. Not only have EU’s dancers been hard at work throughout the semester, but professional guest choreographers have been working alongside student choreographers to create a breathtaking performance to bring to the stage; they have invested an incredible amount of time and energy into bringing both physical precision and heartfelt messages into the performance. Michelle Wurtz, Caroline Butcher and Mallory Welbourn are some of the guest choreographers whose work will be showcased in the performances.

      The production will feature dances with a wide variety of themes from childhood innocence laced with Disney princesses to dueling factions. There will be a piece exploring a battle with anxiety in addition to various other pieces. The concert as a whole will work to “dazzle audiences of all ages and backgrounds.” Welsh expresses that he is most looking forward to “watching the part of the choreographic process where these works of art take on a whole new life as they emerge onto the stage from the studio.” He says that the efforts of choreography are never completely fulfilled until there is a live exchange between the audience and the dancers. The decision-making and discipline involved in the craft of choreographing work to build up to this exchange that will eventually occur when the pieces finally find their way onto the stage. Welsh feels that the dancers are divinely inspired and that each gesture they make is imbued with spiritual vitality. Be sure to support Eastern’s dance department by attending one of these three breathtaking performances to experience the beautiful messages and emotions expressed through our university’s dancers.