The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Performing Arts Department presents its end-of-semester dance showcase Great Leaps Wednesday, May 1 (Preview Show), and Thursday, May 2, at 7:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center. The concert features all dance courses from UH Hilo and Hawaiʻi Community College with over 80 dancers performing ballet, jazz, modern and aerial original choreography.
The UH Hilo Dance Ensemble will reprise excerpts from the musical Rent, recently performed at the PAC to great acclaim. Other featured performances include a piece incorporating the new dance style Afrobeat by student Muriel Assi, and Kea Kapahua’s Jazz II class’ high-energy “What Time Is It?” from High School Musical 2. Celeste Staton’s ballet classes offer a visual banquet in “Kaleidoscope” and “Collective Strength.” “Dreamscape,” choreographed by instructor Annie Bunker, explores her fascination with active and vivid dream states in a large group work performed by UH Hilo Modern Dance II and HCC Aerial Dance II.
An aerial duet entitled “Ave Maria,” choreographed by Robert Davidson, reflects on the human desire to move beyond the ordinary in search of transcendence. The piece will be performed by Annie Bunker and Wrenn Bunker-Koesters. Other aerial works include “Finding Center” choreographed for HawCC Aerial Dance I and inspired by a line of prose from writer T.S. Eliot: “Except for the point, the still point, There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.”
Tickets are open seating. Preview tickets on May 1 are $3.00 for all seats (not part of the Fall Trifecta package). Ticket prices for the May 2 performance are $10.00 General, $7.00 Discount, $5.00 Students with a valid ID and children 17 and under. Call the UH Hilo Box Office at 932-7490 or order tickets online at artscenter.uhh.hawaii.edu.