A Celebration of Joy and Movement at UNR’s Annual Spring Dance Concert
A still from Rosie Herrera’s original piece, Dining Alone. Photo by Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre.
The spring Dance concert is a tradition done by the University of Nevada, Reno’s Theatre and Dance department. After two long years of online dance due to the global pandemic we are still facing, the concert is finally able to be performed in its true form, live and on stage.
The Spring Dance Concert will be located at the Church Fine Arts building at the Redfield Proscenium Theatre on April 21, 22, 23 at 7:30 p.m. and April 23 at 1:30 p.m. Additionally you can join the livestream here on April 23 at 1:30 pm.
This event is a particularly special one due to the choreographers and works that are included. Two university dance faculty members, Rosie Trump and Nate Hodges will be presenting their own pieces featuring student dancers. Additionally, the school has had an amazing opportunity of welcoming two guest artists, the Martha Graham Dance Company and returning, the Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre.
Rosie Trump, a Modern dance professor at the university is premiering an original work After, Party! with five student dancers. Starting this work in fall 2020 and finally debuting in 2022, this piece reflects on that time and ultimately is a celebration of joy and movement.
“I've been saying reverie a lot, it’s an opportunity to look forward,” Rosie says she has been in a 10 year minimalism phase and beginning with this work, she is investigating maximalism and what it means to want more.
The jazz professor, Nate Hodges, will be presenting a previously choreographed piece Siren, also featuring student dancers. This performance was originally done with Hodges’ LA based ‘RhetOracle Dance Company’, and debuted in 2009.
“[A] pervasive sense that something is always happening,” Hodges said in regards to what influenced this piece. “There was a lot of fear mongering from the government, and being represented in the media, but also this sense of, is anything really going on?”
He felt that this anxious and frenzy driven dance needed a revival because it is still relevant today, and as a reaction to major world events.
“Nate’s piece is an experience of this collective and fast paced fear,” Andrew Piaz, a student dancer in both Hodges’ and Trump’s pieces, said. “Rosie’s is all about having fun at this party and this feeling of taking in everything from the world and letting it go.”
Emily Leech, a performer in Hodge’s and Graham’s pieces, says the ladder work is “a lot of internal work and firm movements in unison that read as being defensive and Nate’s is similar but is about these massive spacial movements and about as chaotic as it can get with layering.”
A photo from the play Heretic, choreographed by Martha Graham. The play premiered in 1929 at New York’s Booth Theatre. The prestigious Martha Graham Company, founded in 1926, had a spring residency here in Reno, Nevada. The student dancers auditioned to learn one of Martha's original pieces Heretic, which was performed at The Pioneer Center on March 8. The dancers have continued their rehearsal for another performance in the spring dance concert. This ensemble based work is very powerful and timeless modern dance. Photo by the Martha Graham Company.
The University has the amazing opportunity to have the Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre back for the second time. Last spring, Rosie Herrera choreographed dance students and created Encanto, a dance film.
This year she has brought her company with her to perform an original work, Dining Alone, that has put her on the map as a modern choreographer. Her website describes Dining Alone as “an exploration into the deconstruction of empathetic instincts assigned to age, fragility, youth, and isolation. Addressing the inherent drama and comedy attached to food, Dining Alone invites you into the bittersweet and private moments that are amplified by the experience of dining.”
