The winter semester is coming to a close, and some Grand Valley State University students are preparing to don their caps and gowns during Saturday’s commencement ceremony.

The graduating senior class of GVSU’s dance department will perform one last hurrah at the Senior Dance Concert, located in the Louis Armstrong Theater of the Performing Arts Center on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.

“Students will get to see many different viewpoints of dance, and how each piece can be interpreted differently by each person,” said Kelsey Byrd, a senior dance major. “Dance is universal and is always changing.”

The concert will entail featured dance performances from various senior dancers. There will be several dance genres featured in the pieces, as well as one large piece choreographed by one of the seniors.

The concert is organized in conjunction with the senior capstone course, in which the seniors learn to produce their own dances, techniques and performances.

Three of the senior dancers will each present what they learned during the course in the upcoming concert. Each dance features different styles and different unique music selections that explore emotion and different interpretations of life. Byrd will present “Where Will You Stand?” a dance dealing with daily pressures; senior Amanda Charlton will perform “Static Existence,” which investigates the evolution of human relationships in a dance and senior Katy Mervich will present “Perpetual Guidance,” a contemporary ballet piece.

“I’m extremely lucky to be here with the GV dance department,” Charlton said. “I feel as if I’ve grown immensely as an artist in my four years here, and I’ve learned many valuable lessons and done tons of networking while I’ve been here as well.”

The dances are the result of everything these seniors have learned at GVSU and are the finale of their college career. In addition tho those performances will be self-choreographed solos, trios and various other pieces.

“Students will get to see very talented and hard-working dancers,” Mervich said. “These senior shows really bring the dancers together to connect on a more personal level with each other because not only are they performing in a show but they are performing for their senior dancers. It’s a great way to say goodbye to our dance family.”

The performance is free and open to the public; however, donations are accepted. For more information, visit www.gvsu.edu/dance or contact professor Shawn T. Bible at [email protected].

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