Faculty, students and special guest from New York choreograph pieces for Fall for Dance

Planning for Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus' 2013 Fall for Dance show is well underway.

The show is performed every semester as either Spring into Dance or Fall for Dance. Not only does it allow dance students the chance to shine while performing, it also allows the theater and dance faculty and students to show off choreography that they have been working to create. This year, an estimated 30 students will perform in the show. Financial assistance was provided by the Missouri Arts Council.

The show will feature a variety of styles, such as ballet, tap, jazz and modern dance. According to associate professor and theatre and dance department chair Dr. Philip Nacy, the show started before he began teaching 10 years ago, after which he began working on the show. Nacy also is designing the light show for the performance.

"I love ballet," Southeast student Stormy Robinson said. "I love the message that it sends. I'm really looking forward to seeing the dancers perform it."

Although there is not a main theme for the event, there might be a theme for different dances depending on the choreographer. In addition to the faculty and student choreographers, the guest choreographer for this semester's show is Jennifer Archibald. Archibald is the founder and artistic director of the Arch Dance Company, which is based out of New York City. Theatre and dance professor Dr. Marc Strauss is the artistic coordinator for the show.

Nacy said that the guest choreographers are brought in through contacts that a theatre and dance faculty member might have or if they have a way to connect with a professional dancer.

All of the dance faculty members will choreograph at least one dance for the show, but they likely will create more than one. The students who want to choreograph for the show have gone through an audition process, which Nacy said began in the middle of the semester. He also said that the dances often are not completely finished when the students audition.

All dance students pursuing a Bachelor's of Fine Arts degree are required to participate in the show. Nacy said that most of the dance students want to participate anyway. If there is a choreographer who would like a student to perform for them, and vice versa, they can request to have that particular person to work with.

There also will be pre-performance discussions with student and faculty choreographers and performers. These talks will take place at 6:45 p.m. on Nov. 21-23 and at 1:15 p.m. on Nov. 24 in the River Campus Atrium in front of the "Inland Waterways: The Highways of Our Heritage" mural. The talks are supposed to provide audience members with insights on the pieces of the show.

Fall for Dance will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 21-23 and at 2 p.m. on Nov. 24 in the Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall. Tickets are $16 and can be purchased from the River Campus box office or at rivercampusevents.com.