The Migration of Spring Hits AACC
“starting from the back row left to right: Jamal McCullough (apprentice), Samuel Boquist, Lynda P. Fitzgerald (Director), Anwar Thomas, Arrington Lassiter (Vice President-scheduling), the middle row: Rashad Ferguson, Rachael Scaringe (Presi- dent), Evelyn Paddy (Vice President), Tevin Williams, Elisabeth Lee, Madeline Gorman and finally Bottom row: Caroline Callahan (apprentice), Chelsea Muhammad, Adrian Gusky, Emily Rey, Jordan Smith, Ida Glaze”
April 10, 2015
Although spring seems reluctant to arrive, AACC’s Dance Company’s performance “Spring Migration” will be premiering on May 8 and 9.
AACC’s Dance Company recently celebrated its 25 year anniversary where its members performed “Spring Migration” and a special alumni concert.
“Spring Migration” is an annual production set up by AACC that is made up of different individual performances of the Dance Company members.
Lynda Fitzgerald, who founded the Dance Company in 1988, is also the creative director and choreographs many dance performances at AACC including “Perspectives” and “Running Amuck”. However, “Spring Migration” is a collection of dance performances made almost entirely by the students in the Dance Company, and so it changes every year.
“The bulk of ‘Spring Migration’ is student works,” said Fitzgerald. “I get to look at what they’re doing and help them with any choreographic blocks they’re having…to help them along the way.”
All of the Dance Company students will be performing in this production, and some will be performing their own dances within it according to their own styles and preferences.
“Some of [the dancers] are choreographing solos, some duets, some trios, and their group pieces and it’s all different styles,” said Fitzgerald. “We’ve got hip-hop, we’ve got more of a contemporary style, there’s some jazz, there’s musical theater…so it runs the gamut and that’s the coolest thing because I don’t put any restraints on them in regards to theme. There’s never a theme, so they can do whatever their heart leads them to do.”
Fitzgerald has worked on the choreography of many pieces herself, but gives her students free reign to do whatever they want in order to express themselves when they produce their own dance.
“I feel that the results are always so much more fun that way,” said Fitzgerald. “It’s never the same and there’s never anything necessarily driving them except for themselves. I’m excited, I think that we’ve got some really awesome work coming up so I’m really eager to see the showings.”
The show will be on Friday, May 8, and Saturday, May 9, at 8:00 p.m. The prices are $7 for AACC students with valid ID, $10 for faculty, military, children and seniors, and $15 general admission. For more information, go to http://www.aacc.edu/dance/anniversary.cfm.
