Dance spotlights graduate program

They are the first class in the new graduate degree dance group at Cal State Long Beach. Moonea Choi, Stephanie Nugent, Sandra Pope, and Sarah Swenson make up the four student-choreographers behind "Live," a concert of new works currently playing at the Martha B. Knoebel Dance Theater. 

Over the course of the three-year graduate program, each student must direct or stage manage one concert, Nugent, who is the concert director for "Live," said. 

The four dancers formed the group two years ago, and call it The Graduate Dance Group. They met when they were undergraduates majoring in dance at cal State Long Beach. Running into one another was unavoidable, Nugent said.

Now they are busy with their thesis works, which consist of 40 minutes of one's own choreography. Nugent also said that all four work as graduate assistants in the dance department. 

"I started choreographing because I love to make movement," she said. "I began to realize that I could understand what I knew better through movement instead of verbally."

Choi choreographed two pieces for "Live," including a duet that she will be dancing in, and a group piece called "Composition VI."

Pope also choreographed one group piece, and one solo act. 

"The program boils down to the study of movement," Pope said. "I want to be able to incorporate what I know with a not so structured form, a newer style of movement with an old one."

Swenson has two pieces as well, one in which she dances. 

"I started choreographing when I had something to communicate," she said. "There are no rules in modern dance. You can do anything you want. 

The Graduate Dance Group and their works can be seen Feb. 24-26 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 27 at 2 p.m. One may reserve tickets by calling the Arts Ticket Office at (562) 985-7000.