Spring into Dance, one of two of the year’s showcases of Southeast’s talent in a variety of dance styles, opens Thursday, April 14th at 7:30pm at the Bedell Performance Hall at the River Campus. KRCU’s Jason Brown spoke with Hilary Peterson, Coordinator of Dance at Southeast, and Martiqua Hopkins, a senior whose choreography will be featured at this year’s concert.
The piece that Peterson choreographed is titled "And All the Lovely Ladies had Flowers in their Hair," named from the children's book "The Story of Ferdinand." It's set to music titled "Zapatos De Baile" by Gypsy Flamenco Masters.
Southeast Missouri State University senior Martiqua Hopkins will have her choreography featured in a piece titled "Ange Déchu." It features the song "Not About Angels" by Birdy, which might be recognized from the film The Fault In Our Stars. Hopkins says her piece is "about four women who are in search for inner peace, but are also finding peace within the core group they have formed." Hopkins is a dancer herself, and says her approach to choreography is to find movements that feel good for her to do, and to then see how those movements look on other dancers.
One of the program highlights of this year is a piece titled "Dance Sport," which hurls concert dance into the competitive arena of sports. Peterson describes the piece as fun, and notes that it includes dancing referees, sports announcers, and dancers creating real-time slow motion and instant replay effects.
Spring Into Dance will be performed Thursday, April 14th through Saturday, April 16th at 7:30pm each night, and on Sunday, April 17th at 2:00pm at the Bedell Performance Hall at Southeast's River Campus. Tickets can be purchased here.
