After years of perfecting their craft, 12 USC students are ready to take the next big step of their careers by participating in the annual Student Choreography Showcase.
Held in both the fall and the spring, the Student Choreography Showcase gives dance students the opportunity to share their creative visions with the public by choreographing original pieces of their own.
Many of the choreographers have been dancing for almost a decade and believe they are ready to become directors. The showcase allows them to be directly involved with and take charge in every step of the process.
Preparation for the showcase begins the second week of school and spans the entire semester. The process includes determining a production schedule, holding auditions and deciding themes for the pieces. Finally, a panel of judges decide which pieces will premiere at the showcase on Dec. 5 through Dec. 8 at Drayton Hall Theatre.
Among those on the panel is Cindy Flach, who has been the director of the showcase for 15 years. Flach is one of many faculty members who serves as a mentor to the aspiring choreographers. Each year, she has witnessed the choreographers improve from previous years and does not ever recall a disappointment.
“It’s their dream, and they realize their dream, and they know what it takes,” Flach said.
For both the choreographers and the dancers, time management has been one of the biggest components in transforming their dreams into reality. Rehearsals are usually three to five days a week, and the choreographers often find themselves in the studio working late into the night and even on weekends.
Emma Morris, a fourth-year dance and environmental science student, is the choreographer of her own piece and a dancer in a peer’s piece. Morris has been dancing since she was in the third grade, and after graduation she hopes to begin an audition circuit in pursuit of her dream to dance for a contemporary company.
Morris's piece, “21 years and 20,000 Miles,” is inspired by her life growing up in a military family that moved often and her search for the true meaning of home.
Although this is her third time choreographing in the showcase, Morris still finds the process to be a challenge, albeit a rewarding one.
“You gain more confidence in speaking your dance language," she said. "I have never been more nervous in my life than when my choreography goes out onstage because I have no control over it. I created it, I made it, but it’s gone. So that’s really scary ... building up the confidence to lay it all out there."
Like Morris, fifth-year dance and biology student Lauren Bobo’s piece is also inspired by her personal life. Bobo says her piece, “We’re All Human Here,” stems from the “network of sisterhood” between her and a few close friends after she left an abusive relationship. Bobo describes sharing such a personal experience as a “catharsis.”
“Here’s me purging something that was really toxic in my life and I’m not embarrassed about it. I’m not afraid of it, and it’s been really empowering, honestly,” she said.
Michael McManus, a fourth-year history student, has danced in the showcase since his freshman year. However, unlike his peers, this is his first time choreographing an original work of his own. Ultimately he hopes that viewers understand how much work he and his peers have put into the showcase.
"Even though all of our pieces are really different, there’s camaraderie that we feel amongst each other, and I want them to just see the passion and the love we all put into our pieces.” McManus said. “But also, I want them to take away each of our individual styles.”