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concert director Brandon Whited

Under the direction of Brandon Whited (Assistant Professor, Director of Dance Performance), six senior BFA Candidates present their new original degree capstone projects. These new creations by Ana Ko Glass, Elijah Hahn-Smith, Alice Lousen, Michaela Perez-Kelly, Robbie Rosenmiller and Britney Walton will be accompanied by UCSB Dance Company in a premiere by guest artist Yusha-Marie Sorzano. The concert features Lighting and Production Design by Michael Klaers, and Costume Design by guest lecturer/designer, Oran Bumroongchart.

Continuing the line of choreographic research they have been developing over the past two years, the student choreographers delve even deeper into the creative pursuit of their unique, individualized aesthetic voices and points-of-view. The choreographers are each drawing from different inspirations and utilizing a range of choreographic methods to bring their visions to life. 

Being transported to a barren society, Ana Ko Glass’s piece explores the struggle of choosing self-preservation over sacrificing one’s humanity to conform. Dancers weave through a vast field full of a mechanically minded society as they fight to resist the robotic temptations.

Pulled through an energetic portal into an alternate dimension, Elijah Hahn-Smith’s dancers ebb and flow through different energy pathways between heaven and earth as they traverse new landscapes; each soul weaving new connections between the spiritual and physical embodiments of the mystical realm they’ve been transported to. 

Alice Lousen’s new work utilizes music as a score for dance. Employing each dancer’s body as an expression of a particular musical instrument, Lousen visually represents Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 through movement. Lousen draws on her classical ballet and modern training to create unique movement that utilizes the distinctive facilities enabled by the pointe shoe.

Resonating on the five stages of grief—denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance—Michaela Perez-Kelly and her five dancers will depict a layered, emotional journey. Reflecting on these mental and emotional stages, the audience may begin to reflect on their own relationship to grief, loss, and overcoming.

In his piece, Robbie Rosenmiller and his 6 dancers explore the theme of diversity. Rosenmiller intentionally includes styles of waacking and house dance to diversify the concert dance stage. His piece grows from a feeling of yearning for equality and diversity in a world that doesn’t, to evolving and embracing differences in others and uplifting those differences. The shift from contemporary to energetic street dance movement will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Britney Walton’s Blood on the Leaves, analyzes the process of death through three different lenses. One: Experiencing death as a Black woman through an injustice. Two: Death internally through final breath and heartbeat. Three: The traumatization of death through dissociation, experienced immediately after the loss of a loved one. As part of Walton’s research project—funded by an Undergraduate Research & Creative Activities Grant (URCA)—she explores the implementation of Dance Movement therapy and difficult dialogues surrounding race to develop choreographic inspiration.

UCSB Dance company, under the direction of Delila Moseley, will take the stage in a new original work by Yusha-Marie Sorzano. Sorzano’s new piece It's Been Nice was inspired by her inquiry into the ever present erosion of our planet as we know it, and the roles that we human beings play in it. What will become of us and our beloved home if we don't immediately work to slow climate change? The UCSB Dance company joins the Spring Dance Concert on the heels of its full repertory performances in March, and in advance of its touring and performances in Europe in mid-late April.