“Thursday was the opening night for the University of Akron’s Dance Company’s annual performance. The tiny Daum theatre located in Kolbe Hall was packed and anticipation filled the air. As the lights dimmed and the curtains opened the audience prepared themselves for the show.”
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Thursday was the opening night for the University of Akron’s Dance Company’s annual performance.

The tiny Daum theatre located in Kolbe Hall was packed and anticipation filled the air.

As the lights dimmed and the curtains opened the audience prepared themselves for the show.

The first dance was a ballet. Dancers dressed in white ballet costumes greeted the audience.

Choreographed by Cydney Spohn, an Assistant Professor in Dance, Opus 3 was a classical ballet piece that showcased the capabilities of UA dancers.

This piece was executed very well, and conveyed an overall elegant and graceful feel. It was a lovely number.

The next performance was Outer Forces; choreographed by a student named Marie Klaiber.

This modern piece is best described as short and sweet. It was much shorter than the close to 10 minute piece beforehand, but that didn’t take away from dancers’ captivating performance.

The curtain opened to show a single dancer with tan background lighting. Soon after two other dancers joined her.

It is difficult to pinpoint what made this piece so entrancing. It could have been the almost haunting tune performed by Philip Glass and Steven Reich, or the continuous dancers’ moves.

Whatever it was, after this dance ended one could hear various whispers from the audience discussing how interesting that piece was.

While Outer Forces was the most captivating, the next one was the most colorful without a doubt.

Illegal Aliens choreographed by Tom Smith a Professor in Dance, and music by Aaron Copeland, was a modern piece that used colors to its advantage.

As the curtain opened, the audience was greeted by the bright lighting that lit up the background. Near the bottom of the stage it was red and faded into orange.

Each dancer had a solid brightly colored costume, playing up the warm colors.

The actual dance was performed well. There were a few times where it appeared a dancer may have lost their footing slightly, but overall the piece was strong.

After a 10 minute intermission the audience was greeted to the wonderful sound of the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack and the next performance The Chase began.

The modern piece choreographed by Colleen Bowen opened with an orange background light and a man and woman in blue shirts and black pants.

There were three stories within the piece.

The first appeared to be about a man trying to persue the girl.

The second part of the dance was the group that wore pink shirts and black shorts.

The last part told the story of a woman’s attempt to catch the attention of a man she likes.

The man is uninterested in everything until a lady in red comes and sweeps him off his feet, leaving the woman who pursued him alone.

After the warm colors of this piece the next one was a bit cooler.

Glacier, the modern piece choreographed by Nick Carlisle, was a different sort of number.

The dancers were dressed in grayish blue body suits and were clumped together for the majority of the dance.

What made this dance stand out the most was the music selection.

The music, by Lawrence Minadeo, wasn’t a typical orchestral piece.

In the beginning it sounded like crickets then led to almost a metallic sond. The only conventional instrument that was heard was the occasional haunting tune of a lone flute. There were also times in the number where there wasn’t any music at all.

This was a very artistic piece, and the colors and music used actually conveyed the coolness of a glacier.

The last piece of the UADC was The Playground.

The Playground, choreographed by Kimberly Lawver, was a jazz number.

The piece began with groups of girls dressed as Catholic schoolgirls playing childhood games such as jump rope and duck goose.

After a few seconds they began their jazz dance.

The dance ended with a beach scene. As the giant lifeguard stand was put into place, it was easy to tell that this dance was going to go out with a splash.

At the end the dancers had a large amount of water dumped on them.

All of the performances were excellent and very enjoyable.

If you missed out , the UADC has an upcoming spring performance.

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