Festival brings opportunity

Dance exhibition enables students' work to be critiqued

Throughout history, dance has been used by societies as a means of communication, a form of healing and a way of bringing people together in celebration.

"Dance is a reflection of the society by which it has been created," said Pat Finot, coordinator of the Southwest Regional American College Dance Festival, which Cal State Long Beach will host Wednesday through Saturday.

The four-day event, which is open to the public, will open at 8 p.m. in the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center with a performance by the Mehmet Sander Dance Company.

Mehmet Sander and many of the company dancers are former students of CSULB's dance department.

"A society's approach to choreography, subject matter and music tell us so much about that society, just as a painter's work from a particular era does," Finot said.

The primary purpose of the regional dance festival, Finot said, is to provide students with the opportunity to share movement materials and to view others' work, thus enriching their own.

"In addition, the festival gives an opportunity for college dancers to have their works critiqued by established professional dancers/choreographers," Finot said.

Student works created during the festival will be critiqued by two industry professionals: Lynn Dally, the artistic director of the Los Angeles-based Jazz Tap Ensemble; and Joe Goode, the artistic director of the San Francisco-based Joe Goode Performance Group.

According to officials from CSULB's College of Fine Arts, more than 300 students and faculty members from more than 30 universities (from as far away as Hawaii, Utah and Nevada) will participate in the festival.

There will be 86 classes taught during the four-day festival that will reflect the festival's theme, "Toward a New Millennium ... Looking Forward ... Looking Back."

The classes will combine old and new styles of dance, regionalism and universality, as well as cross-cultural influences. They will also vary in style and levels of modern dance, ballet, jazz and ethnic dance, as well as rhythm, tap and improvisation.

On Thursday and Friday of the festival, 39 dance selections will be performed. Of the 39 dances, 10 to 12 will be chosen for a final Gala Concert on Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Carpenter Performing Arts Center.

Most of the dances performed on Saturday night will be modern, but the audience will probably have a chance to see other styles of performance dance as well, such as ballet or jazz.

Christina Whisenant, a CSLUB dance major, will perform "Myself Ago" on Friday, along with dance major Kim Gregg. Whisenant choreographed the modern-dance piece and wrote the text to accompany it.

"I always had an interest [in dance] but never really had the chance to pursue it," Whisenant said. "Then, about five years ago, I had an instructor that was fantastic and really inspired me. It all just snowballed after that."

In the future, Whisenant would like to explore choreography more and delve into the healing aspects of dance.

"I want to continue my education in Colorado after I receive my B.A. from Long Beach," said Whisenant, who plans to obtain a masters of fine arts from the University of Colorado in Boulder.

The Gala Concert's 10-12 dance selections will be announced at a Friday evening banquet in honor of Bella Lewitzky, artistic director of the Lewitzky Dance Company.

Lewitzky's contributions to dance span more than half a century.

"While we can look back in awe at Bella's contributions, we are still looking forward to more," Finot said.