“This is my love song to modern dance,” commented choreographer Cynthia Gutierrez-Garner about her piece Shiny Things for the Mind, which was performed by nine Gustavus students at last week’s American College Dance Festival Association’s North Central Regional conference held at the University of Minnesota. The 400 participants in attendance enthusiastically concurred. The shouts of recognition, laughter and applause temporarily turned the dignified adjudicated concert into an environment more akin to a rock concert.
The ACDFA conferences provide the unique opportunity for students and faculty to have their dance works adjudicated by a panel of nationally recognized dance professionals in an open and constructive forum. The process culminates with the presentation of pieces selected for their exemplary artistic quality in a Gala concert. The Gustavus submission, Shiny Things for the Mind was selected not only to be in the Gala Concert but to close the entire concert. These conferences are the primary means for college and university dance programs to perform outside their own academic setting and be exposed to the diversity of the national college dance world.
This is the second year in a row, the Gustavus Dance program has been selected for exemplary artistic quality and included in the Conference’s Gala performance.
~Michele Rusinko
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