• the217
• Stage
• Studiodance II allows students to showcase their talent

Related Media

Rehearses for Studio Dance 2 takes place at Studio Theatre in Krannert on Monday, April 20. Photo by Tanmay Chowdhary

• See Slideshow (5 images)

See More About these Events

Studiodance II »

• Event has already occurred
• Krannert Center for the Performing Arts »
  500 S. Goodwin Ave. Urbana, IL 61801
  (Show on map)

“Wake Up!”, “My Genius is Better than Your Genius?”, “Melangerie” — prepare for an hour and a half of a sensory menagerie with these performances from Studiodance II. Chosen by an election committee of faculty members and concert professors from the Dance Department, these pieces join a line-up of 10 student choreographed works.

Studiodance II is a completely voluntary performance that seeks to reveal the artistic abilities of select dance students. The students are active and passionate about their work. The audition process this year included 30 pieces and 10 were chosen for the performance. “We have an amazing group of students who get together and find the time to rehearse and put together a show while working on lots of other performances and academic work,” Jennifer Monson, concert director, said. The energetic student body is very interested in choreography, presenting their work and trying things out. Monson says the theme of the performances is totally dependent on who decides they want to audition pieces. The concert includes a wide ranging selection of dance styles from traditional tap, jazz and ballet to contemporary forms like modern and hip-hop, which are influenced by pop culture. Furthermore, she notes that age ranges from freshmen who are doing really expressive and powerful solos, to graduate students who are working with sophomores collaboratively.

Monson works closely with the students in the artistic and logistic process of bringing the pieces to fruition. “My role as concert director is to support the whole process, and once we’ve selected each piece to be performed we assign a mentor who we see fit to help them work a little further.” She watches rehearsals, observes the work, and gives constructive criticism as well as positive feedback. “For me the most exciting thing was seeing all of the different works, seeing the enthusiasm and the creativity and the imagination of the artist,” Monson said. “New freshmen and sophomores are finding the energy to find their own voice and try things out.”

As a creative process the performance pieces present new, fresh dance experiences. Monson says that students have graduated and taken their work into their professional work. There have been students in the past that took their body of work and performed it in New York and Chicago. Studiodance II inspires and motivates the dance students at the University of Illinois to present their work at multiple venues.

The audience should expect gradients of dance from serious to whimsical and everything between. “Dance is a really powerful art form because it invites the audiences into a particular kind of kinetic experience that is extremely sensory,” Monson said. “Things that are really personal and emotional explain the imagination through the body in a particular way. Often it’s not that the audience is invited into experience dance in a way that is not necessarily intellectual, or literal, or narrative. It is very much about a time-based art form.”