Hard work culminates with Dance Festival

By Kristina Chiapella

Two senior dance majors will showcase their work in the Spring Dance Festival this weekend, sharing their respective styles in individual shows that have been planned since last spring.

As seniors with an emphasis in dance, Stefani Comerford and Kelly Bossenmaier had the opportunity to create their own recitals. Such senior recitals make up the biannual dance festivals that take place in both the fall and spring quarters.

"This senior recital is like a capstone course for the performing arts of dance because they draw on all their prior training technically, choreographically and conceptually to put together a series of dances that express what they care about," said David Popalisky, director of Santa Clara's dance program and the Spring Dance Festival advisor.

The number of seniors who create shows for the dance festivals each year is based on how many seniors with a dance emphasis there are and whether or not those seniors have completed all the necessary requirements.

Prospective recitalists must declare their intention to participate in the Spring Dance Festival during the spring of their junior year.

Bossenmaier described how she had always been terrified of choreography, but wanted to do the festival as a way to conquer her fears.

"I realized that as a choreographer you get to express what you want to express, not what someone else has given you," she said. "I wanted to communicate my own messages, and I realized this is probably the last time I'm ever going to have the venue and the resources and people to help me do this."

Along with three dances of her own creation, Bossenmaier has incorporated performances by Salsa Clara and the Irish Dance Club into her show after an illness earlier this year required her to modify her original plan.

Coincidentally, this fits well with the concept Bossenmaier wants her dances to express to the audience.

"In my pieces, my message is just that life is a journey and that things happen, but you keep going," Bossenmaier said.

Comerford's recital, consisting of five dances, also conveys an important concept.

"My theme is the power that women have, whether they realize it or not," Comerford said. "Women are strong and capable, and no matter how they portray themselves to the outside world, they need to be respected, mind and body."

Because Comerford and Bossenmaier are the only recitalists in this year's festival, Popalisky said that the two individuals have really been able to develop and deepen their style and will be sharing that with the audience.

"They come up with the themes, they translate those ideas into dance and they run all the rehearsals," Popalisky said. "They have to at minimum do one solo that they create and perform themselves, and then they're in charge of finding appropriate costumes, music, contacting lighting designers and, in the end, literally running the whole show."

Each recitalist has spent the last eight weeks creating a show that is about 30 minutes long, making the festival a short and sweet one hour long.

About 30 dancers are involved in the festival through an audition process and by invitation of the choreographers.

Popalisky said that this is the first time auditions have been conducted in order to open up the festival to dancers who wanted to be involved. Comerford and Bossenmaier did not exclude anyone interested in participating.

"We took everyone who came to the audition because we had so much talent there, and we just felt that everybody who came out showed so much interest and just wanted to be a part of it," Bossenmaier said.

The festival will take place in the Fess Parker Studio Theatre on Saturday, April 21, at 1:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., as well as on Sunday, April 22, at 2:00 p.m.

"Because it is in the Fess Parker Studio setting, it's very up-close, and there's something special about that," Popalisky said.

The theater has a capacity of about 80 people, so buying tickets in advance might not be a bad idea.

"It is a very dynamic and diverse show with many different styles of dance to capture the audience's attention," Comerford said, who is confident that the show will provide everyone in the audience with something they will like.

Bossenmaier was quick to praise the hard work of her cast. "I have some super talented dancers who have worked their butts off for me and two amazing cultural clubs who have volunteered their time," she said. "It's going to be a lot of really great dancing and a lot of great new, fresh movement from young people."

Contact Kristina Chiapella at (408) 551-1918 kchiapella@scu.edu.