Grossmont College Dance opened their annual faculty choreographed dance concert on May 9. Students performed pieces choreographed by Grossmont Dance Department faculty and some guest choreographers, in the concert event titled “Entrances and Exits.”
Promotion for the event was overseen by Dance Department Chair David Mullen, who was not involved in choreographing the concert’s pieces, but highly praised the commitment of the student dancers. Mullens explained that students have been rehearsing since early February, with piece choreographers holding rehearsal once a week, each rehearsal lasting several hours. Many students are involved in more than one piece, meaning some dancers have been attending hours-long rehearsals several days a week, all in preparation for the concert.
Harp-beat is a piece featuring tap dancing from the dancers and harp playing by Dr. Vanessa Fountain, who is the Dean of Arts, Languages, and Communication at Grossmont.
A concert of this size presented a logistical challenge in terms of organizing over 30 student dancers. However, the dance department rose to this challenge in the spirit of offering an opportunity to as many students as possible, including some students who were dancing on stage for the first time.
“We’re super excited to create a platform for new artists who are exploring what it means to be a performer in dance,” said Adjunct Dance Instructor Gina Sorensen.
Sorensen was also one of the faculty choreographers for the concert, crafting the piece Once in a Land Burning with her husband and fellow instructor Kyle Sorensen.
Sorensen highlighted the months of preparation and work the dancers had invested into preparing for the performance: “We work for four months for a three-day payoff; three days of performances is all we get, so it’s got to have a lot of heart.”
This sentiment was echoed by the dancers themselves, and as they revealed, performing so many different pieces between so many different students comes with some challenges they must come together to tackle.
Student dancer Nadiah Escobar said, “Everyone’s going through the chaos together, and is experiencing the same type of chaos, so we know how to help and support each other through it.”
That stress is part of what makes it take a lot of courage to perform on stage, according to the performers. However, student dancer Jadyn Carlo made sure to explain her love of performing on stage.
The dancers also expressed excitement for witnessing the show as final product, with dancer Carlo saying, “Part of the excitement is that I can’t wait to see everyone else’s pieces, and I can’t wait to see what is going to be put on stage!”
Another exciting piece of the night was “Life,” an emotional journey with themes of work-life balance, choreographed by alumni choreographer Lauren Pym.
When asked about challenges in preparing for the show, Pym pointed to drawing from her own emotions in order to convey her feelings on balancing heavy workloads with finding enjoyment in living.
“It was kind of a roller coaster because my story essentially is about burnout,” commented Pym on the conceptual piece. “So, really diving deep into what burnout felt like for me, or does feel like, definitely helped to create the piece.”
In the end, social commentary wasn’t the only way the concert used dance to give back to the community. One touching piece was Hey Mama, an ode to mothers, as the concert landed around Mother’s Day. Clearly, dance can touch the mind and soul in many ways.
