Lamar University’s department of Theatre & Dance will present “Fall & Recovery,” the annual faculty concert, Nov. 22-23, in the University Theatre. Showtimes for both days are 7:30 p.m., with a matinee at 2 p.m., Nov. 23.
“What the audience can expect is modern dance, jazz dance, tap dance — beautiful fusions of fun is what I call it, so it has a little variety,” Amy Elizabeth, assistant professor of dance, said.
The dances in the show are centered around the idea of mental health, Elizabeth said.
“Mental health is becoming more and more apparent in our culture and our society, which I think is really beautiful,” she said. “(The show) really focuses on mindfulness and the mind — the voice, the sound, the influence, the relationship that one may have with the voices in our head — essentially mind chatter.”
“Fall & Recovery” includes ensemble routines, small groups and partner work.
“We have a lot of partner dancing,” Jayleeann Roth, Pearland junior, said. “Not just men and women, but we also do both female dancers dancing together and men dancers dancing together, which you don’t see very often.”
Regan Dearing, Vidor junior, said she has been in the department since her freshman year but had to miss previous shows due to injury.
“It was really hard on me mentally, but I think it also helped me understand what the people do for us in the theater,” Dearing said. “It helped me gain more gratitude towards the people around helping us do our shows. It kind of made me grow in sort of a role model way.”
Dearing said theater and dance students are able to get a wide variety of production experience while putting on this show.
“We also get to set up the lights and really understand the technical side,” Dearing said. “It’s not all about just the dance part. You get to learn every role.”
“Each of the students and faculty have worked very hard this past fall semester to prepare for this dance concert,” Roth said. “We have a lot of different styles that you will be able to see and watch, and it will be a lot of fun.”
General admission tickets are $15, $10 for seniors, $7 for students with LU ID, and 5$ for children 12 and under. For tickets, visit lamar.edu/ lutdtix.