Westminster University to Host Spring Dance Concert Exploring Fluidity

Westminster University Dance Company will present Tidal Motion as their spring performance on April 18 and 19, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. in the Sorenson-Fenton Performance Studio on the Westminster campus. Tickets are $15 per person and free for all K-12 and local university students.

Tidal Motion combines dance with live music to portray the beauty and complexity in the patterns that cycle through our lives. Westminster School of Music Faculty members Brandon Derfler and Julie Page will perform a two-piano reduction of Michael Nyman's Water Dances, accompanying original choreography by Westminster Dance Faculty Bethany Hansen, Carly Schaub, and Meghan Wall.

“Water Dances provides a dynamic backdrop to explore water metaphorically. The pacing of the music and textured choreography reference the ways our actions, emotions, and connections ebb and flow through time,” said Wall, chair of the Westminster University Dance Program.

Virginia-based guest choreographer James Morrow will premiere a commissioned work entitled “Low Tide” that reveals the unseen layers of daily existence. An original electronic score will accompany the work, composed and performed by local guest musician Michael Wall. Wall will also perform vocals and piano in Morrows' solo performance of “The Beast in Me.”

Tidal Motion includes a collaboration with Westminster University partner Salt Lake Ballet Cooperative (SLBC), demonstrating the confluences of connection in community partnerships. This innovative work features original choreography by Dmitri Peskov, performed by members of SLBC, with live cello and spoken text performed by Jenn Chandler.