“An Evening of Dance” was held in the Redfern Arts Center’s Main Theatre this past Wednesday, April 20, through Saturday, April 23. This annual event showcases dance student’s original choreography, according to Keene State College’s website. The four-day event was directed by Marcia Murdock and assisted by William Seigh and contained 11 modern dance pieces.
According to KSC’s website, a “specially commissioned dance by New York choreographer Yanira Castro premiere[d] along with three new works by Keene State College faculty during An Evening of Dance presented by the KSC Department of Theatre and Dance.”
Senior dance minor Alyssa Tyukody performed in this year’s Evening of Dance and commented on how the event came together.
Tyukody said, “I auditioned for Evening of Dance back in January and was casted for William Seigh’s dance piece. Since I had been so busy focusing on my major the past few years, this was my first year being in Evening, and one I’ll always remember.”
This year’s dance featured the premiere of 7 Dancers + Curtain, which, according to KSC’s website, “is based on material from Court/Garden, a full evening length multi-media dance performance inspired by the Imperial ballets of Louis XIV’s French Court.”
7 Dancers + Curtain was performed by seven KSC students.
Colton McCracken / Equinox Staff
Tyukody commented on the process of rehearsing for the event.
“Evening of Dance rehearsals were separate from classes and were scheduled three times a week for a total of eight hours. On Sundays, we had four-hour rehearsals, which were brutal at times, but being with all my dance friends and creating a bond with my professor and choreographer, William, was nice,” Tyukody said.
Another one of the dances featured at the event was “Only You, Elvis, and Balls,” choreographed by Abbie Brown. The dance was recently held in this year’s Academic Excellence Conference.
KSC first-year Tyler Chaisson commented on this specific dance. He said, “I loved the 50s ‘Grease’ vibe it gave. It was amazing to see such a put together piece of work and know it was done by a student.”
KSC first-year Alexandra Tolan commented on the overall style of dances at the event. She said, “A lot of the performances were incredibly abstract, which was awesome because they were open to interpretation.” She continued, “Dance is incredible to watch because it allows performers to express changing emotions in a way that stationary art doesn’t allow.”
Chaisson discussed what it is like to go to a school that represents the arts. He said, “It shows Keene has everything, not just sports and athletics. [This event makes] theater and dance feel like they’re equally represented, which is great.”
Tyukody agreed and said, “A lot of the time, people tend to push dance and theatre students to the side, but in reality we put in so much time and effort for this annual spring dance concert.”
Isabel Tisdale can be contacted at itisdale@kscequinox.com
