Dance concert to showcase honors capstone choreography

Senior dance majors Keagan Vickers and Andrew Danaceau have been pursuing their Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance performance for the last four years. The two are also enrolled in Radford’s Honors College, which requires all of its students to complete a capstone project prior to graduation.

Vickers and Danaceau are each preparing to showcase what they’ve learned during their studies at Radford University. On February 24, 2020 at 7:30 p.m., they will present the Honors Capstone Dance Concert at the Albig Studio Theatre in Peters Hall.

For their projects, the two seniors must create a dance performance that includes designing posters and programs, organizing photoshoots, advertising, and, of course, choreographing dance performances. Vickers and Danaceau have each created 15 to 20 minutes of original choreographed dance, and have been rehearsing with their dancers to prepare for the show.

Vicker’s planned performance is titled “An Experiment in Perception: It’s not me, it’s you.” She says her dance performance will focus more on the audience than it does on choreographers and dancers. “I’m basically giving the audience members tools to write with while they watch the show and I’ll give them time to reflect after they watch,” said Vickers. Her performance will have hidden messages within her choreography and she’s excited to determine if any of the audience members will pick up on those messages. Vickers plans to write a paper about the audiences’ reflections of her work.

Andrew Danaceau’s performance will take a different approach, looking more into questions of self-reflection and how he relates to people and artistic expression. He is excited to use choreography as a way to explore those concepts and answer questions related to them.

Danaceau says that organizing and developing this show is good practice for his post-college life, where he’ll have to undertake similar endeavors before getting his work produced. “What I find most fulfilling is seeing how my dancers interpret what I give them,” he said. “Seeing what they can bring to the process and seeing how what I visualized looks on stage.”

The Department of Dance requires majors to take two choreography courses as well as a dance composition course to help prepare them for projects like the Honor’s Capstone Dance Concert. Students are also assigned a faculty mentor to help them navigate the process. Danaceau’s faculty mentor for his capstone project is professor James Robey, Chair of the Department of Dance. “He’s been great as a mentor,” Andrew said. “He mostly helps me keep my head on straight and helps me stay focused on what I’m trying to convey with my pieces so I can do what I need to do behind the scenes,” he added.

Although the past five weeks of preparation have been hectic for the two seniors, they are excited to see their work on stage on February 24, 2020 at Albig Studio Theatre in Peters Hall. Admission to the Honors Capstone Dance Concert is free and open to the public. Doors will open at 7:00 p.m. on the evening of the performance.