The Cerritos College Dance Department hosted its Fall concert, directed by Christine Gregory and Rebekah Hathaway, at the Performing Arts Center.
The concert was held from Nov. 17 through Nov. 19, each time starting at 8 p.m. and ending at 10 p.m.
For a general admission price of $20, people were invited to watch a two-act performance of all sorts of diverse styles of dances.
Such diverse styles include Latin music, Hip-hop, Modern, Jazz, African and Contemporary.
According to Christine Gregory, who’s the dance department co-chair, there was no outlined theme, “each choreographer was allowed to create worked based on their process and inspirations.”
“I think the unspoken theme for all of us was gratitude,” Gregory added.
Some of the performances were conceptual art pieces with a subtle meaning to them, some gravitated towards a more cultural and traditional style while others were more on the whimsical and comedic side.
Audience member Sandra Shackelford attended the concert in support of one of the choreographers. Monik C. Jones and dancer Melodie Renee Johnson.
Shackelford met Jones through a dance group and she used to coach her.
According to the audience member, her favorite part of Act I, [the performance named “Masterpiece”] was a liturgical piece and she also really enjoyed the African dance before the intermission.
The last song of Act I, Djole, also choreographed by Monik Jones, included the talents of Traditional West African Drummers courtesy of David Hilal and Clayton Kraus.
The second act started with a song; Dinner Musings was less of a sophisticated dance and more of a whimsical and comedic art piece.
Audience member Robin Brammar cites “Dinner Musings” as one of her favorite pieces.
Brammar, who was invited to watch the show by a faculty member, said she was pleased to see diversity in the music and among the performers.
She expressed her appreciation for the art of dance as a ballet dancer in her youth.
The art of dance is a diverse field for people of all ethnic groups, ages and cultures to express themselves creatively.
“I was beyond thrilled to have such beautiful and diverse dances presented for the first time in over two years,” Gregory said about the dance performances.
“The dancers and musicians brought so much energy, vitality and focus to every performance! We couldn’t be prouder of the quality of their performance and work ethic.”
The Dance Repertory Director said the students suffered during the pandemic, since they had to dance on zoom, “but our students persevered and looked stronger than ever on stage.”
“[Are] audience turnout for all three nights was consistent and strong,” she said, “We’re couldn’t be more thankful for our community members who showed up to support our return to live performance.”
The Dance Department will be holding an Informational Dance Concert on Dec. 6 at 6 p.m. in DS (Dance Studio Building) 101 and the event is free of charge.
“This is a more casual dance performance centered around students presenting their own works as well as […] the material they’ve been working on during the semester,” she said about the Dance Concert.
