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• STUD II is a night of new, thematic work by UIUC Dance students

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Photo by James Kyung (James Kyung, buzz Photographer)

While most UIUC students struggle with end-of-semester burnout, the Dance at Illinois grads and undergrads are anxious pick up extra work. That is, if it involves taking their own choreography to the Krannert stage.

As the spring semester comes to a close, Dance at Illinois students have the unique annual opportunity to create and audition pieces of choreography for production in Studiodance II. The concert, often referred to as “STUD II”, is produced in the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts just a few short weeks after the students audition their works; during those weeks, the students receive feedback from Dance at Illinois faculty in the interest of fine tuning their choreography. The choreographers also collaborate with the KCPA production staff to add lighting and other design elements to bring their artistic visions to the stage.

This year’s concert features a wide range of thematic content – dances with deep social and political concerns, a dance that explores the struggles inherent in grief, and a dance with underpinnings in the colonial experience are juxtaposed with a humorous piece rooted in compulsive journaling, and a titillating duet by graduating BFA students Stephanie Azzaretto and Courtney Bradley.

What inspired the pair to collaborate in the wake of creating their senior theses?

“I wanted to collaborate in a work with Courtney before graduation because she is one of my best friends,” Azzaretto said. “We have a lot of inside jokes, so STUD II was a great opportunity to put all of them into one cohesive piece.”

The choreographic collaboration has been easy, Azzaretto went on to explain, but finding costumes is proving to be the most difficult part of the pair’s creative process. For undergraduate choreographers Nico Brown and Amanda Gross, the hardest part of the process has already passed.

“The hardest part for me was deciding to audition,” Brown said. “It takes a lot of confidence to stand behind your work--you're really vulnerable. But once the audition starts and I'm moving, everything is ok.”

Gross had a similar experience.

“Putting my work on display was the hardest part of the process,” she said. “When I auditioned, I felt so vulnerable. I had not received any feedback on the piece at that point because no one had ever seen it. I wasn't sure what kind of reaction I would get.”

Gross is involved in STUD II both as the choreographer/performer in a solo entitled J.J. Jesus Pieces, and as a dancer in undergraduate Wedee Kao’s Bushwick.

This is Kao’s second year participating in STUD II; he choreographed and performed in a duet entitled Triip with UIUC Alumnus Nicholas Wagner.

“I wanted to participate in Studiodance II this semester just as the choreographer because I wanted to see what my choreography would look like on other dancers’ bodies,” Kao said. “I loved working with my dancers because they were all so willing to be part of my creative process.”

While Kao hopes that the audience will take away a small idea of his own experience of Bushwick (a neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY) after seeing his piece, Brown has a bigger goal in mind.

“I hope the audience, especially those that don't consider themselves dancers, can find dance more accessible in their own lives and work after seeing my piece,” he said. “Too often we separate ourselves into our own systems, and I'd like to encourage everyone to step out for a minute and take a chance.”

So give Brown and the rest of the student choreographers a chance; tickets for STUD II are available now.