Dance Theatre concert marks three seniors’ last performance together

The curtains of Blanche Davis Theatre in UWRF’s Kleinpell Fine Arts building are drawn closed. The stage has been vacant, and the lights have been dim, since the conclusion of UWRF’s Dance Theatre Spring Concert, which was held from Jan. 31 to Feb. 3.

The concert, which is an annual culminating performance for the university’s Dance Theatre organization, was one of bright lights, artistry, and hard work for the many dancers, choreographers, and club members who participated. This spring concert also marked a bittersweet occasion, the conclusion of three UWRF seniors’ opportunities to perform together.

The three seniors–Cassie Fay, Lily Callander, and Claire Brindley–all hold officer positions within Dance Theatre this academic year, with Fay as the President, Brindley as Vice-President, and Callander as Secretary.

“The year before we were all in lower officer positions and then all the seniors left,” Brindley said. “[Claire and Lilly] wanted Cassie to be President… [and] she did great.”                  

“I was kind of forced into the president role,” Fay admitted. “It ended up working out really well.”         

The three now-close friends first met during the Dance Theatre’s casting week during their sophomore year. “We went into the studio, looked at one another, and we all looked terrified,” Fay said. “I realized that those were my people and if I hung out with them, I would be fine. And then three years later, we’re here.”                                                        

Casting week occurs at the beginning of the fall semester, and returning and prospective members of the program perform a dance combination in front of the director, Mari Kline-Kluck, as well as choreographers and upperclassmen. From there, depending on their availability, dancers choose or are placed in different pieces that are featured in the upcoming spring concert. 

“It feels like an audition at first,” Brindley said. “But when they reassure you that everyone is getting in [a piece], it feels a lot easier. It is really inclusive.”

All three seniors performed in seven of the 12 dances featured in the spring concert, with each tallying several choreography nods as well. One of the dances, “Into Our Moment,” was choreographed and performed by all three seniors. “The three of us decided we really wanted to do a piece together because we wanted to have that last moment together as dancers,” Fay said.

“It was to show how we came in from different backgrounds... and how we came into this same program and got to know each other, [and] dance alongside each other and grow our friendship,” Brindley remarked. “It’s the base of our friendship and we wanted to have a piece to commemorate that.” The dance was performed to the instrumental of “Fine Line” by Harry Styles and has a deeper meaning to Brindley.                                                       

“You’re always walking a fine line in between one thing or another. We are walking together, in a way, between what is coming next in our lives,” she said. “We started all this in separate places and we’re kind of spreading back out again.... As dancers, our dance journey is coming to a close with this piece together.”   

There were a multitude of different dances featured in the concert, ranging across genres of music and dance alike. From the Afro-Peruvian-style “Festejo” to the modern “Love is Heartbreak,” many of the dancers performed in more than one piece and genre throughout the concert. To prepare for the pieces, dancers met once a week for rehearsals on each individual dance that they would take part in.

For those with dance experience, memorizing routines can be second nature. “A lot of it is muscle memory,” Brindley explained. “Most of the pieces we rehearsed at least once a week, and at some point, it just clicks, and your body memorizes it.”                               

Dance Theatre accepts dancers from all levels, while also giving opportunities to those that are involved in other forms of dance at the university.

Mira Meinen, a sophomore at UWRF, is a member of the Dance Team as well as the Dance Theatre. “For the Dance Team, it’s a lot more about entertainment and competition,” she said in an interview. “Those dances are less than two minutes long whereas these [for Dance Theatre] can sometimes be from four to five [minutes long].”

The artistry and performance of dance are captured via many different aspects, several of which are the lights, props, and costumes. All these aspects are set up during technical week, which typically occurs a few weeks before the concert. According to Meinen, the technical week for this year’s concert arrived more quickly than in past years.                                                       

“This year was crunch time,” she said. “We came back from J-term and immediately started setting up for the show.” Following technical week, the concert commenced over the four separate nights, ending on a Saturday for Dance Theatre as well as Fay, Callander, and Brindley.

“We all knew it was coming,” Brindley said. “It was definitely emotional, but also a cool moment to remember and run through in my mind.”