Western Michigan University’s Department of Dance is world class, and their Winter Gala Dance Concert showcases the extraordinary and collaborative talents and terrific professionalism of its students, faculty, and guest choreographers.
This year’s Gala feels more like a deliberate concert than a showcase recital. In two acts, two and a half hours, and eight dances, each piece is distinct yet also blurs the distinction between dance styles and speaks surprisingly lucidly to the current cultural moment.
For example, many of the pieces distinctly feature dancers collapsing onto the ground. Is this not how we, collectively, feel? We’re not doing it nearly as elegantly and skillfully as they are, but in the falling down, and the getting up, and the falling down and getting up again, beautifully and artfully, and in several different contexts, we see ourselves—with a touch of hope…