Dancers from the Southern Illinois Dance Company will light up the stage for their 35th anniversary show Friday by performing dance routines to hit songs by Lady Gaga, Chris Brown, Christina Aguilera and other artists.
Donna Wilson, the company’s faculty adviser, said this year’s selection dances are modern, ballet, jazz and hip-hop, and the show is designed to entertain a variety of people. She said all but two of the pieces were choreographed by students in the company. Guest choreographers Susan Barnes from the Susan Barnes Dance Studio in Carbondale and Daniel Baine helped students learn the dances for the upcoming show.
“We teach each other the steps, which is a challenge because we aren’t professionally trained,” said Eric Oleson, a senior from Plano studying architecture and a dancer in the company. “We don’t get the opportunity to have six hours of class with each other. We only have one hour in our practice sessions to figure it out.”
The company, formed in 1975, is a performance organization open to anyone 16 or older. Wilson said 16 year olds can tryout, and in the past, faculty members from SIUC with no dance experience have joined. The company welcomes artistic diversity among its members and works to train hard, dance well and share its passion with others.
Oleson said during a performance in the summer, lighting fell and could have hit a dancer at the beginning of the show, which made dancers wary of performing for the rest of the evening.
“Something almost fell on a dancer at our last show. We were really concerned about going on,” he said.
Wilson said she is relieved to know the company’s dancers will be safe this year.
“We just got our rigging upgraded. This is something I’ve been working on for 25 years,” Wilson said. ”It was really unsafe, so we are extremely excited to be under safety code now.”
Cristina Enea, a senior from Des Plaines studying public relations and a dancer in the company, said the group’s main focus this semester has been to raise money for Furr Auditorium. The company raises money by teaching dance classes through the university, and with bake sales and donations. Though it’s a Registered Student Organization, it operates as a regular dance company.
Oleson said the company tries to make each show a big production by making the dances as exciting and as fast-paced as possible.
“We don’t have boring dances to songs you’ve never heard of. All of our dances are energetic and to the point,” Enea said. “We don’t want people leaving at intermission because they think we are boring.”
SIU does not offer a dance major, so dancers are many different majors and come from many schools and kinds of backgrounds, Wilson said.
“We are also self-sustaining.We generate all of our profits from fundraising, advertising and ticket sales,” she said.
The SIDC fall 2010 show is at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday in Furr Auditorium, Pulliam Hall Room 42. Tickets are $8 for adults, $5 for students and $4 for children.
Kayla Kearns can be reached at kkearns@dailyegyptian.com or 536-3311 ext. 274.
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