Dance faculty (back row: General Hambrick, Katreena Snyder, Matt Saffron, Maureen Kaddar, Yoav Kaddar) with Dance students.
The Dance season at WVU is marked by a number of performances, but two of the biggest
are “Celebration of Dance” in the fall and “Dance Now!” in the spring.
“Celebration of Dance” is a student-led performance, where junior and senior Dance majors can choreograph their own pieces and manage the casting and rehearsals. The performances are typically held in late October or early November in the Antoinette E. Falbo Theatre in the WVU Canady Creative Arts Center. Guest adjudicators judge and rank the student-choreographed pieces and provide input to the WVU Dance faculty, who select five to 10 to be performed as part of “Dance Now!” in February.
Another major difference between the two events is the venue. The 150-seat black box Falbo Theatre provides students and audience members with a more intimate performance experience for “Celebration of Dance.” “Dance Now!” is held in the 1,400-seat Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre, which allows for a higher production value. The Dance program collaborates with design technology students for lighting, costumes and even some special effects, said Yoav Kaddar, Professor and Director of the WVU Dance Program.
Because “Dance Now!” has more bells and whistles than “Celebration of Dance,” students sometimes consider it a “bigger” show, but Associate Professor General Hambrick discourages that kind of thinking.
“The students shouldn't think like that because every show is just a show—another show, another performance, another time for you to put your thoughts into movement,” said Hambrick.
“Every show has value,” added Maureen Kaddar, Associate Professor of Dance.
Something I say more than anything is ‘If it’s easy, it’s probably not right.’ If it feels easy or simple, then you’re not working hard enough. General Hambrick
While the Dance faculty support students every step of the way, there are three official
“showings” leading up to “Celebration of Dance,” where students present their works
in progress to Yoav and other faculty for critique.
“We try to give feedback without guiding them in a specific direction, so they still have agency in their work,” said Maureen.
Yoav emphasized that, since faculty can sometimes give contradictory notes, it’s important for students to remember that every comment is a suggestion. Ultimately, it’s the dancer’s choice which notes to incorporate and which to reject.
“We look at our studios as our labs. That’s where we experiment, so you don’t have to be perfect here,” Yoav said. “Make a mistake, learn from it, move on. Build on it, learn from it. Let’s get dirty and mess up and find new ways.”
Don’t make it happen; let it happen. Knowing how to not be in control is being in control. Yoav Kaddar
“Celebration of Dance” typically sells out all four performance times with family, friends and community members. Also in attendance are three anonymous adjudicators. Adjudicators may be local studio dance instructors, alumni and even non-dancers who have been selected and vetted by faculty to confirm they have no existing relationships with performers. To ensure fairness, each adjudicator is provided with a list of the dance pieces and songs without the students’ names.
Not every student-choreographed piece can be selected for “Dance Now!,” even when all the dances are spectacular. This year, seven student choreographers and their casts will perform again at the spring show: Isabella Runion, Sarah Woolley, Lauren Riggenbach, Isabel Al-Zoubi, Abby Cox, Sophie Burkey and Makayla Miller.
Yoav takes the adjudicators’ rankings and faculty feedback into account when he selects which pieces move on to “Dance Now!” He also considers the show’s overall composition, balancing the students’ pieces with faculty- and guest-choreographed work.
“We want to make sure that all the dancers are in at least one piece, so they get that experience of dancing on a large stage,” Yoav said.
In addition to the student-led dances, there will also be pieces choreographed by faculty members Hambrick, Matthew Saffron and Staci Romine, who are both part-time faculty, as well as guest artists Brandi Coleman and Katreena Snyder.
Hambrick, who is trained in ballet and has danced in numerous Broadway and nationally touring productions, is restaging a piece he choreographed in 2021 as a special farewell to his senior modern technique students. He will also perform a duet with a former student.
I love when students take a chance and try something outside of their comfort zone. I love to see them have a positive experience that they weren’t expecting and come out with a different viewpoint. They become more interesting and well-rounded. Maureen Kaddar
Saffron, a Morgantown native and former member of the USA Tap Dance Team, is trained in tap, jazz and ballet, and he primarily teaches tap. Romine, a Clarksburg native with more than 20 years of teaching experience, is trained in ballet, modern, jazz and tap.
Coleman teaches and performs the Jump Rhythm® Technique, a jazz-rhythm-based movement approach, at Southern Methodist University. She has been a guest teacher and choreographer at universities across the country and internationally.
Snyder owns Kat & Co. Studio in Morgantown, where she teaches ballet, acrobatics, contemporary and jazz. She was formerly a part-time WVU School of Theatre and Dance faculty member and still teaches during the summer academy.
Guest choreographers allow students to experience a variety of dance techniques. It’s important, said Yoav, to expose both WVU dance students and the community to a wide variety of dance styles so they can understand the full scope of dance.
“We are the only dance major in the state, so we’re kind of the dance flagship of West Virginia,” Yoav said. “It’s important for us to be at a certain level and have the tools to bring quality dance education and performance to our state, because local studios look up to us. We have some responsibility, being a land-grant institution.”
When funding allows, the Dance program likes to host visiting artists and take students to festivals and conferences, like the one hosted by the American College Dance Association, where they can learn from other universities’ faculty and see the works other schools have commissioned. Traveling to conferences and inviting dance professionals to Morgantown also provide invaluable networking opportunities and connections to the industry.
As an instructor, my favorite part is watching the students improve and seeing what I’m teaching materialize. General Hambrick
In addition to teaching technique and creativity and facilitating professional development opportunities, the WVU Dance faculty also deliver, perhaps, the most valuable lesson: resilience.
“There’s more and more competition these days, but we keep reminding students that dance is an art,” said Maureen. “Your performance doesn’t become invaluable if you didn’t make it to ‘Dance Now!’ You just put your work on stage to an audience, and you did really good, strong work. You should be proud of that and celebrate it.”
“It takes time,” she added. “That’s another aspect of the business: if you’re a dancer auditioning for things or a choreographer putting your work up. It’s not always about the end prize.”
There were definitely some broken hearts after the “Dance Now!” list came out, Maureen said.
“I don’t blame them for wanting to go to ‘Dance Now!,’ and their disappointment is understandable. But disappointment is part of being a dancer. How someone can roll past the setbacks and disappointments can be a deciding factor on whether someone stays in the business or not. You have to be resilient. So, we just remind them that their work is solid. And we hope they continue creating.”
“Dance Now!” runs Feb. 5-6 at 7 p.m. and Feb. 7 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children and can be purchased by calling the WVU Canady Creative Arts Center Box Office at 304-293-SHOW or online at go.wvu.edu/dance-now.
Follow WVU Dance on social media @dance_wvu, and learn more about the School of Theatre and Dance at dance.wvu.edu.