The Southern Utah University Dance Organization will be presenting their semesterly salon on April 8 at 7 p.m. in the SUU Black Box. The salon, which is entirely student-choreographed, costs $5 per ticket.
While SUUDO offers other dance events throughout the year, such as informals, the salon is a step up from those, offering technical aspects like lighting throughout dancers’ performances.
“[The salon] gives everybody an opportunity to get their work out there with lighting, even though the lighting is limited because it’s run by us,” said SUUDO Board Manager Melanie Allridge.
SUUDO began planning the salon at the beginning of the semester, going through the logistical process of choosing dates and booking spaces before choreographers and dancers started to rehearse. Depending on the demands of the piece, each had different rehearsal periods and dancers. Students also filled out a form if they wanted to just dance instead of choreographing a piece.
“Choreographers have the option to choose from a dancer interest form as well, and this time, we left the applications open for a couple of weeks before we closed it,” said Allridge.
The primary goal of a salon is to give students a chance to showcase their own choreography in a comfortable setting. Unlike last semester’s salon that specifically showcased the principles of choreography class, this one was open to any students who wanted to participate.
“It’s a place where dance gets to be explored. Even if you just want to enjoy dance and watch it, some pieces have meaning that you can be involved in,” said SUUDO Marketing Director Addison Cox. “If you want to feel emotion or just see and share art, that’s what our salons are for.”
For more information on SUUDO, follow them on Instagram.
Story by: Tessa Cheshire
accent@suunews.net
Photos courtesy of SUUDO