ByJADA HIGH
highj4@lopers.unk.edu
The dance department has been hard at work preparing for the 2023 Spring Dance Concert. The production featured work and choreography by faculty members as well as select students.
Performances began 7:30 p.m. on March 4-6 in the Miriam Drake Theatre in the Fine Arts Building. A livestream was available on March 5 and 6.
The concert was led by the Director of the UNK Dance Program, Noelle Bohaty, who has incorporated two new pieces of her own. Vivian Kim is also featured as a collaborative pianist for a piece choreographed by dance faculty member Leslie Abegglen.
According to the UNK website, ‘“embodied” examines the space between the ticking of a clock, while VisKosity Dance’s “ch.aos” pounds the pulse of contemporary hip-hop vocabulary into our bones with electric currency.”
The concert consisted of 25 performers from UNK, along with several student, faculty and alumni designers. There were 11 pieces, running about two hours including intermission.
Student choreographers included Maria Klingelhoefer, Morgan Rutledge, Stephen Johnson, Chloe Bohaty, Allyson Fricke, Angel Qualset, Nicole Wojcik, Makenna Koehn, Elizabeth Anne and Lucy Haarmann.
For many dancers, this concert was a first. For a select few, it was their last.
Shelby Haney, a senior political science major, participated in what would be her last dance performance at UNK.
Haney performed five different dance pieces throughout the show.
“Being a part of this program will benefit me in all aspects of my life,” Haney said. “It has helped with my critical thinking skills and my confidence overall.”
The largest piece, “too [ ] to [ ]” choreographed by Bohaty, incorporates 14 dancers.
“We try to incorporate as many dancers as we can in the faculty and guest artist pieces to give all students as much experience as we can,” Bohaty said.
The dance program prepares students for their futures not only in dance, but within their professional careers as well.
“We teach the students how to problem solve, how to collaborate, to be adaptable and to remain calm under pressure,” Bohaty said. “All of those things translate to a lot of different careers.”
