SUNY Geneseo Dance Ensemble to perform Mar. 3-6

The SUNY Geneseo Department of Theatre and Dance Studies is hosting the dance performance In Clear Sight by the Geneseo Dance Ensemble. Performances will be held in the Alice Austin Theater from Mar. 3-5 at 7:30 P.M. and on Mar. 6 at 2 P.M. 

In Clear Sight is directed and produced by professor of dance studies and Artistic Director of the Dance Ensemble, Jonette Lancos, and will include pieces directed by Lancos, guest artists, and student choreographers. The performance will feature 33 student dancers.  

Lancos says that the performances are physically and emotionally difficult, and that she was impressed with how well students have been able to learn the dances and complete schoolwork. 

“These dances are really physically difficult, and emotionally also. Most of these students have dance minors or dance concentrations, but they all have to be very good at time management because they all have majors in addition to the performances. And that's why I think they’re so dedicated to the program—they’re taking every course that's offered in the dance program, and at the same time, some of them are biology, chemistry or math [majors]. They have all these different majors and so they are very, very dedicated and responsible,” Lancos said.  

According to Lancos, the student performers have been rehearsing their dances regularly since September.

Lancos said, “We cast the performance in September. That’s when we held auditions for the dance ensemble, which is a course that students can take, so that students receive credit for dancing. So, all of the pieces in the show have been rehearsing since September, twice a week. That's two rehearsals a week, an hour and a half each rehearsal. It's very, very time intensive.”

Lancos said that the process for selecting what dances will be featured in the upcoming performances was a lengthy process, including input from guest adjudicators from outside Geneseo. 

“We had some student performances in November. Those pieces were seen, and we had an adjudicator, Melanie Aceto, come to look at the student works. They’re usually a professional or a former student that has gone on to direct. Melanie came down from the University of Buffalo and she gave suggestions and selected two pieces that she thought were really worthy of performance,” she said. “And then we hold our faculty show where the department faculty select more pieces for the performance.”  

In addition to student pieces selected by the adjudicator and the faculty, the concert features pieces created by director Lancos, guest artist and President of the National Dance Education Organization, Darwin Prioleau, and adjunct instructors Nicolette Ferguson, Deborah Scodese French and Jody DeLoria.

According to Lancos, students from the Geneseo dance and technical theatre programs are responsible for running the technical aspects of the performance.  

“All of the production crew members are mentored by faculty, but they are students. We have student lighting designers, the stage managers are students, the lighting designers are students. The crew that is backstage is students all running the show themselves, but it's mentored by a few faculty. The stage manager, Lilly Becker and two other assistant stage managers, they call the entire show. I would not want to be a stage manager because for each dance you're calling every cue, and you have to really know the dance. You have to be able to understand the dance and what you're seeing on stage so well, they’re amazing. I always admired the stage managers and what they can accomplish,” Lancos said. 

Lancos selected the title of the performance herself, and it holds special meaning for her. 

She said, “If we don't sell the first five rows of seats, we can dance without our masks. So, we have these beautiful expressions seen so well and clearly on that stage this time, for this performance. That's why I suggested the title In Clear Sight, because we are seeing clearly now for this performance, and hopefully the pandemic will be lessening and maybe we'll be all seeing clearly on campus soon. I felt like we needed a piece like this during the pandemic. So many people have been affected by loss in the pandemic and everywhere around the world with war right now, all of those things. So, this dance is basically a dance of healing; we're doing it in honor of that and as a chance to heal, because dance can heal.”