EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the fourth in a series of "Get to Know" profiles on GCU's College of Arts and Media faculty.
It was between dancing and treating animals for Grand Canyon University’s Chair of Dance Bekki Price. But when it came down to choosing the right college major, it made the most sense to pick what she had been doing since she was 3 years old – dance.
Price followed her dance mentor, Jane Baron, to Slippery Rock University to earn a bachelor’s degree in dance and started teaching at Baron’s dance academy after graduating. Her passion for teaching led her to Arizona State University to earn her master’s in fine arts and dance performance and her doctorate degree in higher education from GCU.
For the past four years, Price has served as the university's dance chair, providing opportunities for Lopes to dive deeper into their ballet, modern and jazz skills, learn from a number of guest artists, and put on various performances.
What is the best part of being a program chair?
My passion has been in choreography, and I have really enjoyed setting choreography for our faculty concerts. Each semester for several of those, I will typically work with composers to compose original music scores for my work.
About 12 years ago, there was a GCU student that passed away hiking on Camelback Mountain. Her roommate was a worships arts major and she composed a song for the Canyon Worship album called Dancing by His Side, which was about losing her friend.
As soon as I heard that song, I was so inspired. I reached out to the artist, the GCU student, and I had them perform that song live on stage and we choreographed a dance to it.
Several years ago, I choreographed a solo called “Zoe,” which was about my niece, her being born, learning to walk and so forth. We did a high school matinee series, and a student came up to me to share that the piece brought her to tears because it reminded her of a sibling that she lost.
So, one of the best parts is creating work that has not only profound meaning to me and my performers but can impact the audience as well.
What is one of your most memorable moments as a dancer?
I love the band New Kids on the Block. I got an incredible opportunity in 2019 where I got to perform on stage with them, and that was definitely one of the highlights of my life. They were doing a tour and, in every city, they would invite the professional dance or cheerleading team to perform on stage with them for one song.
They had a show in San Antonio, and one of my colleagues from grad school teaches there. San Antonio doesn’t have a professional dance team, so they reached out to the University of Texas at San Antonio spirit team, where they had their college dance team.
My friend called and said, “You will never guess what I am going to do. We are going to perform with New Kids on the Block.” And I was like, “Are you serious? You need to put me on stage with them. I will fly out there now.”
She joked about a girls' trip, but I was like no, no. I am 100% serious. Within an hour, I bought my flight. She sent me a video of the choreography and I learned it on the plane. The performance was two days later. That was my highlight.
How do you create new choreography every year and come up with something that our dance program has not done before?
One thing is definitely finding inspiration. We had a guest artist two years ago that was teaching a workshop for our students about choreography, and he made a comment that if you don’t have anything to say, maybe you shouldn’t say anything.
That really hit me because I had been struggling with inspiration, since I had been setting work every semester for about 10 years at that point. To me that was like, oh, maybe I don’t have anything to say right now. I took a break from choreographing one semester to recharge. So, it definitely always begins with inspiration.
Also, I do have a very collaborative process with my dancers. When I am in a room with a cast of dancers, I have so much creativity, but if I incorporate their creativity, it’s just so much more. We spend a lot of time brainstorming and coming up with different movements and ideas.
At the same time, I am working with a composer to compose music. It’s just a huge process that’s often led by whatever the theme of the concert is that semester.
How do you pick the music for your performances?
We have an accompanist who plays for some of our classes, Robin Vining. When he is not playing for our technique classes at GCU, he is touring with Jimmy Eat World, which is a big Arizona band.
He accompanies several of my classes, and I’ve known Robin since he used to accompany at ASU. It’s really great to have a musician that you jive with really well. He knows exactly what I am looking for, and we can communicate easily about tempo, style and mood. I appreciate getting to work with him every semester.
What's one of your favorite things about the program?
I love how our students enjoy helping others. We do a lot of community outreach.
In the past, we have volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, and we add additional performances for our high school students to come out and see our shows. We typically have 200-300 students per semester coming out to see those.
Also, we host high school dance invitationals, where we invite the local Arizona dance programs in the high schools to come out and get to take classes with our students. This is all stuff that our students volunteer their time to be a part of, as well as our faculty. I think it’s just another great thing about our program that aligns with the mission of GCU.
What is the best meal to eat before a dance performance?
I am really boring, so for me it’s salad. I love a good salad.
But one of my students that was the stage manager for our last faculty show was eating Airhead Extremes, and she asked if I wanted to try some. Now I am addicted to them. They are the best thing.
GCU staff writer Izabela Fogarasi can be reached at [email protected]
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