“Form and Transform” is more than just a theme incorporated throughout the dance pieces in the University of Idaho Dance Program’s fall concert. From “Rising Momentum” in 2015 and “Defining Balance” in 2016, the 2017 concert represents the continuing evolution of the dance program at the University of Idaho.
“Every year we title the show something that relates to the progression of our program,” said Belle Baggs, co-program coordinator of dance in the UI Department of Movement Science.
The idea of “Form and Transform” transcends the fall concert and can be applied to the UI dance program’s impact on students, Baggs said.
“We really believe that dance education is transformative because it’s really integrating body, mind, spirit and how powerful that education is for our students,” Baggs said.
Baggs said she, along with her colleague and co-program coordinator, Melanie Meenan, have been rebuilding the UI dance program for five years. Baggs said about four years ago she and Meenan started the fall concert as a platform for faculty and guest artists to show their work and give students the opportunity to have a professional experience.
The 2017 fall concert will feature 16 dance students who auditioned.
“Our students have worked so hard and it’s so great to see their hard work presented on stage,” Baggs said. “It takes a lot of training, a lot of focus— our students are in classes every day.”
Both Baggs and Meenan will be performing in the concert— Meenan with a solo piece titled “Now You See Me”, and Baggs with a team of five student dancers in a piece that will incorporate poetry to explore the theme of love.
In addition to UI faculty dance performances, the concert will also feature choreography by two guest artists from dance companies in the Pacific Northwest— Vincas Greene from Vytal Movement Dance Company in Spokane, Washington and Faith Morrison from Polaris Dance Company in Portland, Oregon.
Although the guest artists were only able to work with UI students over a short period of time, Baggs said she was happy to give her students exposure to different dance and choreography styles.
“It’s a really quick process,” Baggs said. “Our students are really involved in a really intense process where they’re learning a new style and they’re also learning a new dance and they’re being taught by someone they don’t know.”
Working with the guest artists is an experience Baggs said is transformative for her students. Aleks Day is one dance student who will perform in both of the guest artist pieces this year, and said he knows the intensity of the experience and work involved firsthand.
“(The guest artists) come in for just a few days and in those few days it’s just intensive hours of learning and working with them and understanding their style,” Day said. “It’s just everything that a lot of people with choreographers do over the span of months, in about two or three days.”
Day said attending the concert will allow people to experience art in a new form.
“People go to museums or art shows to experience something new and see different works of creativity… this is just another medium that people can create in,” Day said.
Baggs said she hoped the concert would be more than entertainment for the audience.
“It’s thought-provoking,” Baggs said. “It’s asking the audience to maybe question something or think deeper about a subject.”
Beth Hoots can be reached at [email protected]