For the past four years, Grand Valley State University seniors Dan Wentworth, Audrey Holt, Charlie Clark, Shelby Chambers and Shelby Gigliotti have immersed themselves in the world of dance. After countless hours spent rehearsing in the GVSU Performing Arts Center, late nights memorizing routines and dedicating the majority of their time to their degrees, dance has become their existence.

“For us, dance is our true form,” Chambers said. “It is where we like to exist the most, and it is where we are most comfortable. Dance is just our favorite state of being.”

As a requirement to graduate, seniors in the dance department must construct a showcase displaying their talents and all the knowledge they have acquired over the years.

The journey to opening night began with open auditions. Once each of the seniors selected their dancers, each began to work on their individual pieces and solos.

“I remember freshman year being in everyone else’s (recitals) and not even thinking about mine yet,” Holt said. “I just think back to the dancer I was as a freshman and I was so less developed than I am now.”

Preparing the showcase didn’t only include choreographing individual and solo pieces, but much more.

“It isn’t just about the piece, but it is also like ‘where are we going to set up the chairs and where are we going to have the banquet and who’s going to film it and who’s paying for it’ and the list just goes on and on,” Wentworth said.

For each of their pieces the seniors designed everything – costumes, choreography, their dancer’s appearances and the set design. The senior showcase as a capstone is designed to test the student’s knowledge of the dance field, not just their performance skills.

Those expecting a classical-style dance recital will instead witness the art of dance, the seniors said.

“If you don’t like dance and you don’t like art, I think that is just because you are not opening yourself up to something else,” Clark said. “Every time you watch art or you watch a dance it should inspire you to think about something else rather than just staying in the same box that is your own world.

“We create these pieces so that people can interpret them in different ways, and so that they can reach down into their own emotions.”

The emotions, skills and visions of these five individuals will take the stage during the weekend of the showcase. Each of their minds will be buzzing with different thoughts as they enter and exit the stage.

“When I walk off (the stage), I am like ‘it’s done,’” Gigliotti said. “It is like after all of that, that little moment is done.”

And the journey of this group has been compiled into moments – moments of hard work, moments of stress, moments of achievement and moments of happiness. As they step into the spotlight for their capstone performances, each will take in another moment together – a moment of commencement.

The showcase will take place Nov. 14 and 15 at 7 p.m. in the PAC. Admission is free, but all donations will be used toward offsetting the cost of the show. The weekend will conclude with a small banquet following the Nov. 15 performance.

“My emotions, more than bitter sweet, are surreal,” Charlie “I can’t believe that we are here.”

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