USC Dance Premieres Student Choreography This Month

The University of South Carolina dance program will present its bi-annual Student Choreography Showcase, a concert of premiere original works by dance majors, November 29 - December 2 at Drayton Hall Theatre.

Showtime is 7pm nightly. Admission is $15 for students, $20 for UofSC faculty/staff, military, and seniors 60+, and $22 for the public. Tickets may be purchased online at sc.universitytickets.com. Drayton Hall Theatre is located at 1214 College St., across from the historic UofSC Horseshoe.

The works have been developed over the fall semester in a course led by Professor Stephanie Milling that includes choreographers and dancers in the creative process. In-progress performances of the works are presented in class several times during the semester, with constructive criticism offered by students and faculty using Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process, a system for facilitating fair and impartial peer feedback.

Milling says the process inspires discussion and has allowed for choreographers to ask questions about the effectiveness of their work and consider unbiased feedback from their classmates. "Reflection is key when creating a work of art," she explains. "Reflection has been a staple throughout the process."

The concert will feature six diverse works that incorporate a wide range of themes and dance styles. Milling says the choreography ranges "from contemporary to jazzy to balletic styles of movement vocabulary. However, they are all a blend of styles as opposed to being rooted in only one movement tradition."

Creating works for the concert are dance majors Alana Averett, Addison Browne, Sofia Justo, Ana Sofia Kock, Kynslea Philcox, and Lindsay Schultz. MFA Lighting Design students Lorna Young and Isaiah Jensen will join instructor Eric Morris in creating lighting designs for the works.

"I look forward to witnessing how students have taken what they have learned throughout their training and study, connected it, and made something new of it," Milling says.

"It's like meeting a new dancer of the sudden. It's very pleasing to see what they are walking away with and who they have developed into as artists and young professionals."