DeKALB | Dancers demonstrated strength and confidence in their movements at the Fall Dance Concert this weekend.

Each semester, the School of Theatre and Dance presents a dance concert that showcases its dancers’ work. This semester’s dance concert showed off the dance program’s ability to do very different types of dance.

“I come to [the dance concerts] every semester. It’s just so fun to watch,” said Jennifer Lucchesi, sophomore elementary education major. “The technique is amazing [and] the storylines are amazing.”

The show began with a ballet piece, “Raymonda Divertissements.” This piece had selected sections from the full-length ballet, “Raymonda,” originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and restaged by Coordinator of Dance Judith Chitwood.

“Raymonda Divertissements” was a great way to start the show because it was joyful and lighthearted. The piece was also very dynamic because it included classical ballet and Hungarian character dance. The royal theme of the ballet was portrayed well by the dancers. Their hand movements were very beautiful, which added dramatic flair to the dance.

The ballet featured Gail Honeywell, senior dance performance major, as the lead ballerina Raymonda. Honeywell’s strong movements and technique helped to depict the character as sassy and bold.

The second piece “D-Construction,” a modern dance originally choreographed by Septime Webre and restaged by Rich Grund, was strikingly different than the ballet. The dance was more serious and the emotion on the dancers’ faces complemented the intensity of the movement.

Lucchesi said this was her favorite piece because it was the most modern and she liked the music.

The fourth piece, “Still Lifes,” originally choreographed by Dermot Burk and restaged by Grund, was a contemporary ballet piece where Stephen Blood and Libby Thomson portrayed a love story between two statues. Blood and Thomson wore bodysuits painted to look like statues and began the dance motionless.

The final piece was “Woman from the Holler,” performed solely by Honeywell and choreographed by Frasz. Honeywell portrayed a woman who had gone mad. She began the piece in a tub filled with water and had used her dancing to splash the water around the stage.

This final piece was my favorite in the show because of the emotional aspect and the use of water as a prop.