The Nevada Sagebrush

Event Details
- What: Fall Dance Festival
- Where: Nightingale Hall
- When: 8 p.m. Friday
- Cost: $15  for general admission tickets , $13 for student tickets

University of Nevada, Reno dancers will strut their stuff in pieces choreographed by fellow students, dance faculty and members of 3rd Law Dance/Theatre and Bell Contemporary Dance Company at the Fall Dance Festival on Friday.

Along with student performers, professional dancers from both companies will be performing. One of the dancers from 3rd Law Dance/Theatre, Tara Rynders, is an alumna of UNR.

Cari Cunningham, a UNR dance professor and one of the show’s choreographers, said student-choreographed pieces were chosen from those presented during a student dance concert.

“This year, instead of students auditioning pieces as they have done in the past, we chose the five dances,” she said. “These works were ones we felt demonstrated a high level of choreographic skill and development and we wanted these student choreographers to continue working on these dances for the festival.”

Nicole de Roza, one of the student choreographers and performers, said choreographing her own piece was very special to her.

“I can always dance someone else’s piece and hopefully I will connect to it, but having my own choreography on stage is like having my own precious baby,” she said.

Each piece represents a different form of dance, from modern to classical. Cunningham’s modern piece, titled “Aureate Debris,” is unique because the dancers provide the stage lighting.

“The piece is lit entirely by headlamps that the dancers wear so the dancers are responsible for both the movement and the lighting cues,” Cunningham said. “It’s a very challenging piece because the dancers have to be aware not only of their bodies moving in space, but also the angles of the light they are emitting.”

“I think people will be really interested in the diversity of dance styles in this particular show,” Cunningham said. “I think there is truly something for everyone and audiences will be energized, provoked and dazzled.”

“Never have I been more excited to dance in the pieces I am in and to watch my choreography on a huge stage,” de Roza said.

The festival will take place at at 8 p.m. Friday in Nightingale Hall. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $13 for students.

Emily Fodor can be reached at news@nevadasagebrush.com.

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