Dance students will perform original and new pieces during the Fall Dance Concert Nov. 10-13 in Robert Theatre in Scott Studios, directed by Jen Guy Metcalf, assistant professor of dance.

The concert consist of seven different pieces – three choreographed by dance professors and the other four by students.

Metcalf selected the faculty dance works after a discussion with Lauren Kearns, professor of dance, about their vision for the concert and which pieces would fit.

But the process of choosing student’s work for the Fall Dance Concert is different through selection dances created in the “Choreography 1” and “Choreography 2” classes.

“Those students present work in October for a work-in-progress showing for audience members where they can receive feedback,” Metcalf said. “Then the students apply the feedback and continue working on those pieces and present their final work in December.”

The student choreographers create their pieces a year before, during the fall semester, and present them in December.

During this time, Metcalf and other dance professors discuss which works they would like to select for the American College Dance Association Conference, a national dance conference, as well as what to include in the Fall Dance Concert.

“Those students have a great opportunity to keep working, keep developing and keep refining their pieces, and receive great mentorship and feedback before the presentation in November this year,” Metcalf said.

As soon as the next fall semester starts they have to keep editing, refining and rehearsing their dances.

The student choreographies this year consist of a solo, a duet and group dances.

“In terms of the sound and of the mood, they are all going to end up being different,” said sophomore Taylor Cassidy, who will perform in a student-choreographed piece. “I think that this will give the show a kind of dynamic field.”

Junior Abigail Corrigan created a piece selected for the show. She crafted a duet in her choreography class last fall and chose two students to perform it.

Though she hasn’t changed anything major about her piece, the students dancing have been working to refine their movement so that the piece is ready for the stage.

“The piece that I choreographed came with a specific meaning to me, but I think that anyone that watched it can get something out if it and something different depending on how they view it,” Corrigan said. “So I hope that when the audience walks away from viewing my piece, they feel something. It doesn’t really matter what that something is as long as they get some kind of reaction that is personal to them.”

There is a wide variety of works being presented that have different styles and that will evoke different feelings and interpretations within the audience.

“It’s going to be a really good show and I hope that when people walk away they can really see how hard we worked on it and what kinds of things we do here,” Corrigan said. “I think that when people go see dance that they often look for a story in everything that they are watching. Just keep an open mind.”

The dancers hope the different music, moods and movements within each dance will entertain the audience and immerse them into this art form.

“Dance is so interpretive, so even if your meaning is something different from someone else’s that is not necessarily wrong, it’s just different,” Cassidy said.

Those participating plan to show non-dancers the art of dance rather than a competition.

“My hope for that part of the audience in the show is to show them what concert dance and the kind of dancing we do is,” said sophomore Rachel Linsky, who will be performing. “I feel that a lot of what is in the media is more like competition dance and tricks, and that’s what people have of dance rather than the craft and the art form.”