The St. Olaf Dance Department’s annual Companydance concert will be returning this Spring – but with some differences. The concert, which usually is performed more towards the end of the semester, will instead this year run this weekend, March 8, 9 and 10.
The change in date has mainly to due with the Dance Department’s participation in the upcoming “Northfield Experience,” a large, city-wide, multimedia performative collaboration between St. Olaf, Carleton and the City of Northfield itself, directed by Stephan Koplowitz. The early May performance dates, cut too close to the standard Companydance performance time, so the Dance Department chose to perform in March instead.
This change in date also coincided with a change in venue. The concert is normally performed in Kelsey Theater in the Theater Building. However, the space was unavailable with the earlier dates, given that the Theater Department is still building the set for “A Streetcar Named Desire,” which performs in April. Instead, the Companydance concert will be performed in the Center for Art and Dance’s Studio One.
The concert may also be smaller in scale in comparison to recent years. Of the three faculty-choreographed pieces, one is an original piece: “The Other Side” by Heather Klopchin. The other two are remounted dances from previous years: “After the Fall” by Anthony Roberts, a hit from last year’s concert and will also be performed at the American College Dance Conference later this month; and “Celebrating Jennifer” by Janice Roberts, a piece originally from 2013 created in honor of former associate college pastor Jennifer Anderson Koenig.
The concert will, as in years past, also feature pieces choreographed by students. This year’s student choreographers are Briana Blakey ’18, Harper Foote ’18, Michelle Honsey ’20 and Amanda Myroniuk ’19.
The Companydance Spring Concert performs in CAD Studio One at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.