UF’s School of Theatre and Dance will host its annual Fall BFA Dance Showcase, opening Wednesday at 7 p.m. under the theme “Mind Your Step.”
The dances choreographed in the showcase are meant to portray mindfulness and will display the work of this year’s senior class. The show will portray issues that include trauma, self-image and relationships.
Ric Rose, the coordinator of the showcase, said this year’s showcase is the BFA seniors’ capstone project. Rose mentored the 13 choreographers as the project went along, and they worked to “creatively to produce a concert.” They decided as a group on this year’s theme. Each choreographer conducted his or her choice of research to produce the theme.
Not only are students performing, but a few staff members will be as well. Isa Garcia-Rose, Trent D. Williams, Jr. and Elizabeth Johnson are all scheduled to perform in the showcase this year. Rose said the audience is “seeing a diversity of choreographed works building together to reveal creativity and originality.”
Preparation for the showcase started about six weeks ago, with two rehearsals a week for each program. The showcase is split into two pieces: Program A and Program B. Alexander Murphy, a UF dance junior, will perform in both programs, which means that he has rehearsed four times a week to prepare for the showcase.
The dances that are prepared include modern, hip-hop and ballet. Murphy will perform modern dance in the showcase with various other dancers. Modern dance is a “breakaway from ballet,” he said. “It involves more floor movement and is less technique oriented.”
Murphy also described the flexibility of music used in modern dance performances.
“Any genre can be used,” he said. “The range can be from nature sounds to no sound at all.”
The dances are centered on one message only: Mind Your Step. This message can be interpreted in many ways. For Murphy, he interpreted it as minding what people say.
“Especially in this past 2015-2016 year, there have been a lot of problems that arise from what people say and how what people say is interpreted,” he said. “The clear message here is to mind what you say whether it’s cultural, social or behavioral.
The showcase offers an opportunity to see different styles of dance and for students to be exposed to things they are not used to seeing.
“It’s two hours to escape the reality of school and enjoy what art has to offer,” Murphy said.
Tickets for the show are $9 and are available through the UF box office.
