MSU Dance to present ‘Viewpoints Redefined’ concert this month
In an environment where people are affected by a number of important issues, MSU Dance Ensemble is addressing these issues in a creative, kinetic and powerful way.
For its annual dance concert, MSU Dance will present “Viewpoints Redefined.” The show takes place at 7:30 p.m. April 17 through April 20 at the Button Auditorium. Tickets are $11, $6 for seniors and non-MSU students, and free to MSU students with student ID. Recommended for ages 14 and older.
“Viewpoints Redefined” will be an evening of complex, intense, yet exquisitely orchestrated pieces of new choreographic works by guest artists that include Monique Haley and Carrie Brueck Morris, MSU faculty and students. Natasha Davis, associate professor of dance and the show’s principal choreographer, said the concert came together when she and MSU Dance students began discussing issues that personally affected them, whether it was molestation, gun violence, racism or bullying, to name a few.
“This is one of the most collaborative (dance concerts) because I think this is the most vocal my students have been with me,” Davis said.
After taking down notes from those conversations, Davis would then review it, run it by her guest artists/choreographers and begin creating movement and finding music that fit the topic for each of the show’s performance pieces. She said the concert’s nine pieces will not only be a team effort between dancers and members of MSU’s theatre and music programs, it will showcase students using their gifts to express issues that resonate with them.
“This is just a different way to view these subjects from an artistic standpoint,” she said. “The highlight has been the willingness and openness of the students and others who have lent their voice to the concert to not hide their truth and speak their truth.”
For more information on MSU Dance, contact MSU’s Department of Music, Theatre and Dance at 606-783-2473, email mtd@moreheadstate.edu or visit www.moreheadstate.edu/mtd.
