September 13, 2007

Dance ensemble returns to Cal State Fullerton
After a 10-year hiatus, student dancers have their own company.
By LAURA BLEIBERG
The Orange County Register

The vast majority of university students will never join a professional dance company or become professional dancers.

But because being in a company is such a unique educational experience, university dance departments try to maintain student companies.

At Cal State Fullerton, though, students hadn't known that experience for a long 10 years. So faculty there are pleased to announce the CSUF student dance company is back and ready for its first performances of the fall.

The 12 students in the Dance Repertory Theater will perform Saturday in the R. J. McGarvey Dance Studio Theatre on the Fullerton campus, and at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center on Sept. 22.

"We're hoping that the students will have off-campus performing opportunities," said Robin Johnson, professor of dance and choreographer of "Lalique Nocturn," a duet included in the first program.

"We have dance concerts (on campus) and most of them are sold out. We want to have the special performances where the kids are going to get to go to (places like the) Muckenthaler. And also if you have a company, you have a reason that you can get funding," Johnson said.

It was a lack of funding that led to the hiatus for the last student company. Johnson received a university grant last semester to restart it, and the department brought in several guest choreographers to teach works to the students.

They include independent choreographers Damon Patrick Rago and Mike Esperanza, who are both Cal State Fullerton alumni; and Russian-born ballet choreographer Viktor Kabaniaev, who has been a principal dancer with major companies in Europe, and with Diablo Ballet in Northern California.

In addition, Dance Repertory Company will perform "Take Five," by CSUF lecturer Muriel Joyce to music by Paul Desmond. One historic work is also scheduled: José Limón's "Concerto Grosso," a majestic piece that is the first of what the professors hope will be an ongoing arrangement with the José Limón Dance Foundation.

Fullerton assistant professor Debra Noble, rehearsal director for "Concerto Grosso," said it's important for the students to learn dances from choreographers who are not their professors.

"They are getting exposed to a whole other imagination, coming from other dance lineages, coming from a different way of working the body," she said.

It's even important that the students learn to perform in front of an audience of strangers, rather than for family and friends only, who will cheer no matter what they do, she added.

The students rehearsed the six dances over the summer and are now working on weekends and in-between their other classes. In the spring semester, the performing group will be a for-credit class, which is a common practice for student companies at other universities, too. And Johnson said he and Noble will put together a lecture-demonstration program that can be performed for high school audiences. That will serve at least three purposes: teaching and even introducing high schoolers to concert dance; introducing Cal State Fullerton to potential new students; and giving the university students more performing experience.

At Chapman University, which has enough funding to operate its dance ensemble every other year, the students perform at high schools and at churches, and get community service hours for their participation, said Dale Merrill, chairman of the dance department and associate dean of the College of Performing Arts. Merrill said the programs typically have a historical focus, with excerpts from great moments in jazz dance or works created by modern dance revolutionaries, for example. The high school students in the audience benefit, but so do the dance ensemble members, he added.

"For the Chapman students it really gives them an idea of what it's like to dance in a company. You can't be sick. You have to pull your weight. If somebody gets injured you have to know to jump right in. There's nothing in the university curriculum that emulates that experience," Merrill said.

The UC Irvine dance department has two student companies (it previously had three): Donald McKayle's Etude Ensemble and the UCI Spanish Dance Ensemble. The latter is run by professor Nancy Lee Ruyter, who invites advanced students into the group.

The Cal State Fullerton company members are not completely new to performing; they participate in the department's annual student concert. But they said being part of a fixed ensemble is completely different.

"It's so much more than school work. It's so much more effort and so much more fulfilling," said Joshua Romero, 21, senior.

Melissa Zabala, 21, also a senior, said she has found that the more intensive rehearsal period and the fact that she is performing in multiple pieces, is helping her to improve her stamina. A double major in both dance and advertising, Zabala is both dancer and advertising copy writer for the company.

"One of my goals is to combine my majors, to maybe do more commercial work or advertise for a dance company," she said. "I'm actually going to write up a little information for the repertory company in our brochure. And in between classes, I'm asking people to sponsor us."

Dance Repertory Theater of California State University Fullerton

When: 1 p.m., Sept. 15

Where: R. J. McGarvey Dance Studio Theatre, CSUF Performing Arts Center, 800 N. State College, Fullerton

How much: Free

Call: 657-278-3628

Next: 1 p.m., Sept. 22

Where: Muckenthaler Cultural Center Theatre, 1201 W. Malvern Ave., Fullerton

Cost: $15

Call: 714-738-6595