University of Idaho is known for its arts programs. It has nationally recognized music, theatre and dance programs. When the three decided to come together, the annual event Dancers, Drummers, Dreamers (DDD), was born.
Dan Bukvich, UI music professor and one of the founders of DDD, said the performance is a showcase of undergraduate student work. Bukvich said students begin their work for this project at the beginning of the spring semester and don”t stop until they open their show in late March.
This year”s performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Hartung Theatre.
Tickets are $12 general admission, $10 for seniors and $8 for students and can be purchased through the UI Ticket Center.
Bukvich said he and his colleague, Diane Walker, started DDD 25 years ago as a means of giving students a chance to participate in a production they orchestrated themselves.
“We wanted to do a show that involved undergraduate choreographers and composers,” Bukvich said. “We have a lot of professionals working in the world right now because of this show.”
Bukvich said he uses DDD as an opportunity to treat undergraduates like the professionals they will one day become.
“My favorite moments are when I see choreographers and composers reach a level of professionalism they didn”t think they could get to,” Bukvich said.
DDD also gives student choreographers, dancers and composers the opportunity to create work that hasn”t been done before.
While Bukvich works with the composers and percussionists, he said Walker directs the performance and helps put it all together.
Lisa Nickssarian, a UI student performing in DDD for the second year in a row, said she enjoys that the production helps her prepare for life after college.
“My favorite part about DDD, as a student, is getting the experience,” Nikssarian said. “For dancers and musicians, we don”t get a lot of experience on the director side, choreographing, and composing, and being in charge. That”s something that happens later on in our careers.”
Jared Jonas, the DDD lighting designer, came into the production process right before tech week, when students start practicing the dance and music on stage to create a show with lights and live music.
Jonas said the biggest challenge is trying to get the emotion through the pieces.
In order to capture the emotion of the performance through lighting, Jonas said he spoke with choreographers to learn how to better turn their dances and words into lights.
“My experience storytelling in theatre made it easier for me to understand what the choreographers wanted to tell through their dances,” Jonas said.
Although Jonas studies a different aspect of theater, he said he was able to find a common language and work with other artists to finish the lighting for each piece.
“I was handed an empty cue sheet,” Jonas said. “It was pretty chaotic, but there is a rhyme to the chaos. Commotion in motion if you will.”
Hannah Beehler, the DDD stage manager, knows something about the commotion in motion as well.
While DDD performers rehearse, Beehler said she is in the booth, plugging in light cues with the lighting designer, arranging dancers in their places and coordinating the musicians with the rest of the ensemble to solidify the show as a cohesive work of art.
“DDD chose me really. I”d seen the show my first two years here and I fell in love with it and I knew before I graduated I wanted to be involved some how,” Beehler said. “So when I got an email offering me the stage manager position I jumped at the chance.”
Beehler said she loves the fast paced environment that DDD offers a stage manager.
“There”s a lot to get done and not a whole lot of time, which keeps every rehearsal exciting,” Beehler said.
Although the production is full of various moving parts, Beehler said everyone does their best to turn DDD into a collaborative and uniform performance.
“I”m managing a production just like any other,” Beehler said. “This one just happens to have more complicated blocking and fewer lines.”
Kevin Douglas Neighbors can be reached at [email protected]