17 dancers glided across the stage as if they were in a long dream in the opening sequence of the Polaris Dance Concert, with music that the choreographer Emily Olster hoped to be “a little bit strange.” Child development junior Olster said this movement was inspired by the concepts of cognition and deja vu and dreams.
“I think that many people really helped bring my vision to life with a lot of moving parts on stage,” Olster said. “It was a big honor for them to put my piece first, and I hope that it did a good job of opening the show.”
The Polaris Dance Concert took place in the Performing Arts Center in Spanos Theater from Wed. May 22 to Friday, May 24. Featuring over 100 dancers and 21 choreographers, this concert’s theme was a nod to the North Star. The concert was entirely directed, performed, and choreographed by students, according to the Cal Poly theatre and dance department website.
According to student director and construction management senior Dana Craighead, all three shows sold out.
“It’s such a cool experience I’d say just to be a part of a completely student-run concert and choreographed and directed all by students. And this year, I’m close friends with all three of the student directors,” Olster said. “So it was really cool to get to see firsthand what they were working on.”
Business sophomores Kathryn Conrad and Liam O’Gorman attended this performance to see their friend perform.
O’Gorman said he was excited to witness a student-led show and all the creativity that went into it.
“I’m not a connoisseur you would say, but I love like watching dance and everything, so I’m just really excited to see what kind of art these girls and everyone has been working on,” Conrad said.
The types of dances featured included modern, contemporary, jazz and tap. Some pieces were performed to instrumental music, some pieces to lyrical songs, and one piece – titled “Fragment” – had no music at all.
Political science senior Jane Ekas and business administration senior Madeline Shain choreographed “Fragment.” The dancers made sounds throughout the performance, and audience members could hear the squeak of their feet on the floor.
Craighead said there is a “learning curve” with musicless pieces because dancers so heavily rely on music.
“To see such an innovative and creative idea brought to the stage not only showcases how professional and incredible these choreographers and dancers are but it also brings to life how dance can mean so many things as a definition and dance can be portrayed in so many ways,” Craighead said.
Craighead also choreographed a piece inspired by the fears of post-grad life, entering a corporate workplace. She said she allowed her piece to progress in whatever way it needed to artistically when working through it.
“There is something so beautiful about the collaborative process in the sense that you get to create something that’s even more exciting and original than something you could ever have thought of when you were conceptualizing in your head,” Craighead said.
In her contemporary piece, dancers wore suit jackets while they excitedly danced and did some acrobatics and gymnastics on stage. Throughout the piece, the dancers started to shed their blazers.
Craighead described the show as “emotional” because it is the last time a lot of people may get to dance on stage or dance with this group of people.
“It’s so temporary and so meaningful because of how fleeting it is and I think all of us as creators, the gratitude overflows in that room when the curtain comes down because we just love each other so much and we love creating work together as a whole group of dancers,” Craighead said.