putnam@lopers.unk.edu
For this year’s Spring Concert, choreographers and dancers worked alongside other students behind the scenes managing stage and production. Together, they brought “OverTURN” to life.
Choreographer Hannah Petersen said that pieces have been in preparation since auditions during the first few weeks of school, including “Office Space” performed with her sister Rebekah Petersen.
“Choreographing a work is a very interesting process,” Hannah Petersen said. “Most of the time, it starts out with just a few phrases, and then all of a sudden, you have created a piece. Of course there still needs to be time to change it up, or “wreck it,” which means to take the movement and change some things.”
She designed sound for the piece “Be More,” and choreographed alongside Emma Emde and Chloe Bohaty. She said that most choreographers do their own sound design for their pieces and revealed the process they go through.
Dance student Julia Peterson has been a choreographer in past concerts.
“As a dancer in the 2022 concert, it is so special to know that each work that a choreographer puts on the stage is an outpouring of something that was once just an idea; as movement is shared with an audience, there is tangible/visual evidence of an idea becoming a reality,” Peterson said.
While choreographers and dancers perfected routines, others amplified them on stage. Trevor Altwine matched lights to a performer’s piece.
“After the lights got hung and positioned, we would program which outlet they are plugged into in the lightboard,” Altwine said. “After that we, as in the designers, would then talk to the choreographers of the dance piece we were assigned to, to understand the meaning of the piece as well as what the choreographer wanted from us, whether that be a general mood or feeling they wished for us to achieve or specific colors as well as many other aspects.”
Bryce Emde, the stage manager, worked with production manager Emma Emde and director Noelle Bohaty to find tech days.
“My main job these days was to keep track of timing and receive my necessary paperwork to get my call book for the production read,” Emde said. “Then finally I sat down with the choreographers, designers, and the rest of my crew to make sure timing was correct and that everyone was happy with their product on stage.” was placed in my hands to get everyone ready for each night.”