A showcase that features pieces choreographed by nine students will open today.

"Young Choreographers Showcase" will run at 8 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday at Rupel Jones Theatre. Another performance will be at 2 p.m. Sunday. Eight pieces with a diverse range of influences will be performed.

For the student choreographers and dancers, the showcase marks the fruition of months of work.Charlotte Loyd, ballet performance and English literature senior, said that choreographing her piece has made her more confident.

''I almost didn't go to the first meeting," she said. "Just the fact that I finished it, it got picked and it will be produced on stage makes me feel really good. I had never done anything like this before."

A meeting about the showcase was held early in the fall semester. Auditions were held and the choreographers chose dancers they hoped to work with.Two showings in front of professors were held before pieces were picked for the showcase.

The show includes pieces choreographed by ballet graduate student Robyn Connors, modern dance senior Felicia Hall, modern pedagogy senior Lisa Marie DeVilbiss, modern dance junior Corey Brady, modern dance and zoology junior Becca Carter, ballet pedagogy senior Julia Wilkinson, ballet performance junior Haley Harris, ballet graduate student Erinn King and Loyd.

"Once you get into the show, you get to do what a real choreographer would do," Loyd said.

And they faced some of the challenges real choreographers might have. One of the two dancers in Loyd's piece was injured.

"I'm in my own piece now," she said. "There wasn't anyone available, they had all been snatched up."

Loyd's piece is a ballet based on a short story called The Yellow Wallpaper.But each piece in the show draws on a variety of inspirations. King said her piece, which features five dancers, creates an atmosphere of sensual tension.

"The essential idea of the piece is that it's a physical representation and creation of atmosphere of the color red," King said.

King received grants from the Graduate Student Senate and a College of Fine Arts interdisciplinary grant for the costumes in her piece, and School of Drama graduate student Diana Rodriguez designed the costumes.

King said she has enjoyed being part of the show, and that working with the dancers was inspiring.


For more information about the OU School of Dance visit www.ou.edu/finearts/dance/

"Each dancer in the piece is there on a volunteer basis," she said. "They dedicated a lot of time to it."
hello there & you too