An original collection of dance performances will debut on campus later this month.
The KNOWHERE Concert focuses on UNM students performing new choreography in flamenco and contemporary dance that sets to inspire audiences in the performing arts and build confidence and professionalism in dancers.
KNOWHERE allows students to engage and support their fellow Lobos in the dance department. The concert will take place on Feb. 26 and 27 and March 3, 4 and 5 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 28 and March 6 at 2 p.m. at Rodey Theatre in the Center for the Arts.
Months of preparation and planning have gone into the performance, along with countless hours of work and practice among dancers and artists creating the pieces. It was last August that the faculty began working on the pieces for the concert, said Donna Jewell, head of UNM's dance program.
Jewell has a piece in the concert that she created and has worked closely with students to perfect. She said she loves choreographing pieces and seeing students work with and learn her material.
“I enjoy watching the growth of the students,” Jewell said. “They train in classes every day to hone their instruments, which are their bodies, but it is in the production process that they become professionals.”
Jewell said that the process of performing in front of an audience in a large auditorium is needed for dancers to have experience. Dancing is a performing art and that is why productions such as the KNOWHERE concert are vital to students pursuing dance.
Though Jewell loves to see students grow as dancers and individual, her most enjoyable part in the whole production process is the choreography that goes into the performance.
“We are making a moving sculpture together,” Jewell said. “The making of that work is a deep process that is ongoing between dancer and choreographer.”
There is a key element that separate this concert from the rest. All the choreographed pieces are original creations, created by UNM faculty and visiting international guests. This means every piece in the performance has not yet been seen.
The work done with the students in every piece is vital in that through them the meaning of the dance must be taught and cannot be shown through previous performances.
Ysabela Trujillo, a senior dance major, will be performing multiple pieces in the concert. The hardest part about the whole process is finding the motivation to push further through the exhaustion, Trujillo said. Once your able to make it to that mental point you are rewarded.
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“The best part for me comes once you have the movement down and can execute it, it’s an amazing experience. It’s the best experience you can feel,” she said.
Trujillo said she intends to continue on with dance after graduating from UNM. She aims to become an apprentice with Yjastros, a local flamenco company based in Albuquerque.
The concert is an opportunity for the whole UNM student body to see what students are working on in the dance department. This occasion is one where students find themselves in this interdisciplinary colloquium that is engaged in art.
“This is a rare moment for UNM,” Jewell said. “Students watching students perform art which then creates this dialogue with students form multiple disciplines here at UNM. I find it really satisfying to have a dialogue with someone who has seen it (the performance) and to have their input on what they saw.”
Students such as Trujillo are ecstatic to have the UNM community come out and enjoy the performance.
“I am excited about this concert,” Trujillo said. “It is my last one, which is kind of sad, but I am also happy about the concert and the experience it gives. I am a little nervous because of all the pieces I am in, but still really excited about it.”
Isaiah Jordan is a culture reporter at the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
