Dance Program Current Events: November 2021 Update

This post was written by State Dance Company member Delaney Galvin.

Fall Concert

Panoramic Dance Project and the State Dance Company are gearing up for their Fall Concert on November 11 and 12, 2021. Members are putting in a lot of hours at the studio and working to get their pieces in tip-top shape. Dances are currently being finished up and cleaned, which means attention to detail is a must. Dancers and choreographers are currently putting their pieces under a microscope to make sure the group is moving together and telling the story they’re meant to tell. The Fall Concert will show a variety of styles including modern, contemporary, hip-hop and more.

One of the really incredible aspects of the Fall Concert is the inclusion of student choreographers. Fostering creativity in students is extremely important to the Dance Program, so it’s great that they have the opportunity to conceptualize and create their own work to be shown on stage in a real concert setting. There will be four student works showcased in this semester’s concert spanning a variety of different topics. Some students have chosen to model their pieces after the topics they study in school, while others have chosen different routes completely. NC State masters student and member of the State Dance Company Layla El-Khoury is creating a piece about stream bank erosion, which is the topic of her thesis. You can check out what all of the students in the companies are studying on each of the companies’ info websites. 

Lunchbox Series

In other news, the Dance Program recently finished hosting its virtual Lunchbox Series for the semester, which invites different speakers to share their expertise within different areas of the dance world.

These 45-minute conversations are great for learning more about the ways that dance can create change in the world and work in ways you may not expect. This semester’s conversations included “The Art of Remembrance: Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks with Carol Nix and Tara Mullins” and “Butterflies In Spirit: A Discussion about The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) Epidemic with Lorelei Williams.” You can read the lineup for the series here.