Dance 10 at the Dr.Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

Posted on by Thor

Dance 10 featured 80 dancers who performed at the Disney Theater in the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts (455 S. Magnolia Avenue Orlando FL.) The performance was one of many during the week long UCF Celebrates the Arts. In the spring of 2015, the university launched this

festival to celebrate UCF’s visual and performing arts through plays, exhibitions, and musical performances.

For its second year, the School of Performing Arts and the School of Visual Arts and Design, in

collaboration with community and university partners, has prepared a showcase of UCF’s

vibrant disciplines to delight and educate audiences. The festival included over 30 performances by Theatre students and Music students, as well as gallery and interactive exhibitions by student visual artists. The showcase brought to Central Florida a celebration of the talent, creativity, and dedication of the school’s student artists. 

The Disney Theater was packed for Dance 10. I had to find a spot in the nose bleed seats. Many of the people  in the audience around me seemed like they might be dancers themselves. With the low light, I  painted the scene with just the three primary colors, red yellow and blue. It was a good lesson in leaving out local colors like the colors of a dress or the tint of a blouse, and instead just focusing on large washes to cover the page quickly. Photography and video wasn’t allowed but no one mentioned that art could not be created at a festival of the arts.

Alone is to premiere at UCF Celebrates the Arts.

Posted on by Thor

Cindy Michelle Heen, the choreographer, invited me to a rehearsal of Alone at Studio Two in the Performing Arts Center at UCF12488 Centaurus Blvd, Orlando, FL. This piece will be part of Theater UCF presents Dance 10 which will be performed on April 8th at 7:30pm in the Walt Disney Theater at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. This is part of 9 Days of Free Events starting April 8th through April 16th. In order to enter the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, you must have a free ticket for an Event or a free Hall Pass. A ticket grants you entrance to a specific event at a specific time. A hall pass is valid for the entire festival and allows you to enter the center without a performance ticket’ When an event is sold out of advance tickets, a wait line forms an hour before the performance begins’ Patrons must have a hall pass to join the wait line. In 2015 all patrons in the lines got into performances.

Alone tells the story of a young woman finding her way in the world. Cindy explained that it reflects her own experience as a young dancer starting out in Orlando. Times were hard and finding refuge was difficult. Friends helped keep her spirit afloat. Now she is interconnected with so many people and she struggles just to keep up with the creative possibilities. At times the dancers moved on the stage with militaristic straight lines. At all times, the female lead was clearly defined, she was part of the crowd and at other times she was alone. Separation is hard, it is painful and yet sometimes it is needed for growth. The caged bird never flies.