Fall for Dance to showcase Southeast student and faculty choreography

Southeast Missouri State University has showcased the talents in the Department of Theatre and Dance in a concert known as Fall for Dance since 2008. The concert is not just a way to showcase the abilities of the student dancers. It also is a way to highlight the faculty and student choreographers of the department that spend months creating and perfecting their dances.

This year's Fall for Dance concert includes 10 dance pieces. Four are faculty-choreographed performances. One is a historical recreation of a 1969 dance titled "Psalm" by famous choreographer Jose LimĂłn.

Five of the pieces are student choreographed, including one by Kelcey Matheny, senior dance major at Southeast. Though she has performed in every end-of-semester showcase, this is the first time she has been featured as a student choreographer in the Department of Theatre and Dance.

"I was not expecting to be picked when it all first started," Matheny said. "But I've been thrown into this awesome process. It's a different position than being a dancer -- you have to know what you want to be seen."

Hilary Peterson, instructor of dance, choreographer and co-artististic director of the Southeast Dance Ensemble, is Matheny's faculty mentor for the concert. Peterson said she could see Matheny's talent for choreography when she was a student in her Choreography II class.

"She never saw herself as a choreographer," Peterson said. "But we encouraged her to choreograph for the concert. She has a very strong piece with very strong movements. It's actually the concert opener."

Once auditions ended, rehearsals began at the beginning of the semester. Peterson said the faculty who choreograph their pieces have two-hour rehearsals twice a week.

Students who choreograph their pieces require more practice time, though. Matheny said rehearsals are Monday through Friday and last between two and three hours.

Her piece is in the finishing stages, and she has now begun rehearsing on Sundays as well.

"You learn new material for every piece," Matheny said. "It's super creative and you are always wondering what's going to happen next. But the most exciting part is the relief you feel when the piece is finished after the semester-long process."

Matheny said her dance is a fierce, intense, dark-girl piece. She referred to it as showing her "inner badass."

Peterson's dance is titled "Pieces of Me." She said it shows little snippets of who she is, who she wants to be and how she likes to move.

These two dances are very different, and Peterson and Matheny are excited about the show's variety.

"Some of the pieces have intense feelings, some are playful and some are very personal," Matheny said. "It's a huge mixture of ideas and everyone is playing off each other. The choreographers have really outdone themselves."

Peterson said the audience will get to see the quality, commitments and talents of the dancers and choreographers during the concert.

"The program is very strong," Peterson said. "There's very strong images and choreography, and the dance takes on an awesome roller coaster. It's very real and honest and will hit good chords with the audience."

Another thing Peterson and Matheny agreed on was how the audience would relate to the pieces.

"Students will laugh with the comedy piece, think about life," Matheny said. "Nothing is too deep. The audience will be able to see it in everyday life because it comes from the choreographers' hearts."

Peterson said the 15-minute intermission between the first and second half of the concert is where the audience can take a break and think about the pieces and let them sink in.

She gave her secret to get the full effect of the concert.

"I think the best seat is the lower balcony in the front row," Peterson said. "It's still close enough to see the dancers' expressions, but far enough back to get the whole picture and see the ensemble dance. It's also high enough up to see the spatial patterns in the piece, which really enhances the choreography and helps get the story across."

After three months of rehearsals, the talents of students and faculty will be showcased Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the River Campus.

The concerts will be at 7:30 p.m. in the Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall with a 2 p.m. matinee as well on Saturday.

Tickets for Fall for Dance are on sale now. General admission tickets are $16. Student tickets are $3 with a Southeast ID.

Tickets can be purchased at the River Campus box office and on the second floor in the University Center in room 202.