When dance students arrive at Grand Canyon University in September, they hit the dance floor running.
They immediately begin to compose original choreography for the year's many dance concerts – choreography recently recognized at a major regional event.
At the recent American College Dance Association Northwest Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, students showcased their best works from the year. Adjudicators chose 12 of the most impressive pieces out of 48 performances by multiple universities, including ones by two GCU students, Julia Pankau and Paige Heilig. For the first time in program history, both GCU pieces that were submitted were selected to be featured at the conference gala.
“I am so proud of our students,” Chair of Dance Bekki Price said. “They work really hard, and it is an incredible opportunity for them.”
“The program has really made a great name for itself at this conference. Faculty from other schools would come up to me and praise our students, saying they love having them in class and love the work they created.”
Students audition at the end of the fall semester, and faculty adjudicators choose a select group of dancers to represent GCU at the regional conference.
Once selected, students spend months sharpening original choreography.
Each university can prepare two pieces to be performed at a gala at the end of the weekend.
Pankau’s “The Knocking Beneath Us” and Heilig’s “EXCLUSIVE: JUST PUT IT ON!” wowed the adjudicators.
“Being selected for the gala is really affirming about where I am headed, that I am a good choreographer and it is being well received by the broader dance world in a beautiful way,” Pankau said.
Added Price, “The moment we found out (both pieces were selected) was incredible. It is a great reward for all their hard work.”
Heilig’s choreographed work impressed the adjudicators with its theme of challenging female societal norms. It is a fictional autobiography of an artistic director for Vogue who spent her life modeling and striving to reach the top of the professional hierarchy while conforming to societal pressures of the fashion industry.
Heilig captures the wear and tear that those professionals experience in the modeling industry through the piece's artistic director, an elderly woman exhausted by her job.
Wearing brown dresses, GCU dancers start the dance in heels, eventually used as props to build and destroy an imaginary runway. The number ends with dancers performing contemporary movements barefoot to symbolize letting go of high standards and debilitating pressure.
“I was initially inspired by music,” Heilig said. “I heard the song ‘On Then and Now’ by Woodkid and Jennifer Connelly and thought how I really wanted to do something on the edgy side. It was anonymously performed in front of adjudicators who didn’t know what school it was from or who I was.
“Putting yourself out there is 100% worth it, because when people see what you have to share with your voice, and they resonate with that, that’s building something. It is opening the door for other opportunities and possibilities.”
The conference itinerary featured a variety of classes and workshops taught by seasoned professionals, and it included informal concerts where students were selected to show off choreography that earned them a spot to attend the weekend event.
Recent graduate Mackenzie Bell presented her piece, “(dis)course of matter,” in the informal concert that made its original appearance at GCU's fall faculty dance concert, “Uncharted.”
Her contemporary piece for a quartet represented different passions in one's mind and how their interconnectedness forms. Rather than telling a direct story, Bell wanted to focus on connection through movement, she said.
Bell challenged her creative boundaries by using airport traffic control sounds. She mixed beats and composed a track representative of a network of communication.
“I really wanted to push myself to do something different from what I usually do,” Bell said. “I was really honored to show other schools the creativity that our students have. We start rehearsing in September, so preparing for it all these months is a lot to lead up to, and I think the trip is worth it.
“We are excited to represent GCU because our community is so strong that we were able to bond so well on stage and dance for the Lord.”
After the conference, Bell and Heilig took their work to Dance Platform, a Palm Springs dance competition put on by Nickerson Rossi Dance. Bell earned second place, while Heilig won first place for her bold choreography.
The prize includes a $1,000 commission to create a piece for the company, mentorship with the company’s artistic director, a full scholarship to the NRD Apprenticeship Summer Intensive and more.
GCU staff writer Izabela Fogarasi can be reached at [email protected]
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