The W&L University Repertory Dance Company will celebrate 20 years of the program with an anniversary performance on March 26, 27 and 28 in the Keller Theatre in the Lenfest Center for the Arts.
This year’s winter performance marks two decades since the program’s founding in 2006. It features a collaboration between current student dancers and alumni. The performance will be at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Jenefer Davies, the artistic director of the W&L Repertory Dance Company, said this performance is very special with 38 student dancers and 15 alumni performing in the show. She emphasized the experiential learning aspect that Washington and Lee dancers gain from this performance.
“It’s a massive educational opportunity for the students. They’re being challenged by the movement itself because they are working with professional artists,” Davies said. “They’re also being given a window into the life of professional dancers, their experiences, education and career path.”
The award-winning company performance includes contemporary dance works designed by internationally renowned guest artists.
The artists are Cassie Wang, a Boston-based choreographer whose work has been shown by the Boston Center for the Arts, and Noelani Pantastico, a ballet teacher and former principal dancer with Pacific Northwest Ballet.
The American College Dance Association named the program “outstanding artistic excellence” in 2016 for its commitment to artistically vibrant works and giving student dancers experiential learning in dance.
The concert consists of group dances, a trio, duets and one solo contemporary ballet piece by guest artist Pantastico. Davies said this concert is the culmination of a four-year choreographic journey for a multi-sectioned dance work she created for 28 of the students and seven alums.
Finnegan Driscoll, ’29, said learning from guest artists has been a highlight of this experience.
“It’s been really incredible to work with people who have a lot of experience in the field,” Driscoll said. “Being able to learn that choreography and share it to this audience has been a really unique and interesting experience.”
The performance also enriches the Lexington community as a whole by offering opportunities to see professional work, Davies said.
Davies said she gives away tickets to kids who are studying dance locally. She said she believes it’s a wonderful opportunity to see new art and experience world class dance.
“Everyone can dance. It’s all just lovely expression of thought or ideas or stories or emotion,” Davies said. “I’m hoping that this will be inspirational to the people who come.”
Tanner Barlow, ’27, the vice president of the dance company, said supporting the arts shows the full picture of what the university is like.
“W&L has this rich art life, and there’s all these really talented choreographers and dancers among your classmates,” Barlow said. “Sometimes it feels like we have this secret life, because I’ll come back from a dance class where I learned something cool, and no one here knows that that’s going on.”
Tickets are required for all performances and can be purchased at the W&L Repertory Dance Company website.
Tickets are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors, $14 for university faculty and staff and $8 for university students.
