Iowa dancers showcase talent in exhibition.
By Sarah Stortz
University of Iowa dance students will bring a brand new tradition to an annual dance festival this upcoming weekend.The 11th Iowa Dance Festival will provide multiple venues for the downtown Iowa City area from April 28 to April 30.
According to the official website, the exhibition is hosted by local volunteers who have prepared for this event since last year. The festival will offer performances by local dancers, choreographic demonstrations, discussions, and film screenings.
Event Director Nora Garda said she started the Iowa Dance Festival back in 2007 with co-founder Mark McCusker. Since then, she has worked both as a producer and a director.
Garda said she started this festival because she wanted to foster a closer relationship between Iowa City residents and the art of dance.
“There’s not enough dance in the community,” Garda said. “This festival will have a lot of interactions with both the community and the dancers.”
As a new feature this year, the festival will begin hosting master classes, which are taught by UI dance students. These classes will be held at hotelVetro Saturday afternoon with a $10 charge from each participant.
UI master of fine arts student Autumn Eckman said she will teach the modern dance workshop at the event.
Although she has taught dance for over 20 years, Eckman said, she wanted to teach for the Iowa Dance Festival in particular so she could make the event open for dancers of various skills levels.
“It’s a supportive environment for someone who may feel like they don’t have that experience and feel that they shouldn’t come. They should still come,” she said. “Everything is going to be tailored for everyone to have a welcome and fulfilling experience.”
UI master of fine arts student Ramon Flowers said he is going to teach a workshop over musical theatre choreography at the event.
According to Flowers, he isn’t anticipating much difficulty teaching the class due to his experience with the style of dance.
“I kind of have the material in my body since I did the shows I’m teaching from,” Flowers said. “Hopefully, audience members will have an opportunity to pick up on the material quickly, and maybe it can give them audition preparedness if they are future dancers. It’ll at least give them a taste of what it’s like to be in a New York setting.”
Other students will plan to showcase their talent for spectators to watch.
UI master of fine arts student Jesse Factor will perform a solo on Friday night as a part of the “Party at the Penthouse” venue. The dance will be a “pop-up” performance, meaning the dance will happen by surprise to the audience.
“[The solo] is sort of a hybrid of what I pull from clowning, dance modernism, mime, and drag. I use different tactics to create this performance,” Factor said. “It’s a little non-traditional in that it’s not just lights and tights on stage.”
Factor said he hopes his performance will leave an impact on his audience.
“I hope they take away some new ideas,” he said. “Maybe they would be surprised to what dance can be. Maybe it challenges them to think in a different way, but I also hope they enjoy it and think about how broad dance can be.”
