Senior Dance Recital: a final performance

Just a few days after their annual spring dance concert, four graduating dance majors showcased original compositions at the senior dance concert.

The April 18 event, entitled Wide-Eyed, was held in front of a crowd of about 100 and marked the senior dancers’ final performance at Eastern.

The concert featured four premiere works created entirely by Eastern seniors Joshua Landis, Tara Ritlinger, Kara Schmidt and Christine Underwood. The pieces ranged from a solo performance called “Love Understood” that was less than five minutes, to Kara Schmidt’s thirty-minute “Vignettes of Mary.” Altogether, the event was about two hours long, with refreshments following.

Each dancer’s composition displayed a huge part of who they are personally. Christine Underwood’s “And At the End I See” portrayed the ability to find the positive in light of tragedy and to realize that in the end, one is blessed.

Underwood used her own personal experience with tragedy, the burning of her home, as inspiration for her work.

“I have come full circle in understanding that the true blessings in my life are the people with whom I share it,” Underwood said in the printed program. “I am blessed by the fact that the Lord has changed me, and I celebrate the rebuilding of our home.”

The crowd favorite of the night was Josh Landis’ piece “Innocence Lost,” which portrayed the story of Eve and the emotions she encountered after introducing sin into the world.

The dance took a new angle on the biblical creation story by focusing completely on Eve and her original innocence, temptation, guilt, lament and hope.

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