Dance concert gives students a lesson in reality

Ready, set — wait a minute.

Thus goes the dreaded technical rehearsal for a dance or theater production, where the artistic muse must strike a compromise with time, space and the stage manager.

It's no different at the first tech rehearsal for "Tomorrow's Choreographers," the annual dance concert choreographed, produced and performed by students at the Conservatory of Performing Arts at Point Park College. Eleven student choreographers will present ballet, jazz, modern dance or tap pieces at this year's student showcase, which runs today through Sunday at the Pittsburgh Playhouse in Oakland.

Student dancers have garrisoned the Rockwell Theater, where the tech rehearsal takes place. They study in the halls, stretch in the aisles, prance and plie in the lobby.

What they do mostly, however, is wait.

The choreographers, their dancers and tech crew each have 20 minutes to rehearse their piece. When the 20 minutes is up, the dancers must vacate the stage and make way for the next group. Riding herd on this creative rabble are faculty member Laura Fincke and Point Park junior Deana Vasile, who describes herself as a stage manager major. Vasile sits next to a lighting board in the middle of the theater, checking her watch.

"I'm not kidding about this," Vasile sings out as one group of dancers hustles off the stage and another gets on. "Can somebody please get me a pillow or something to sit on?"

Off darts student Joshua Beumer, who returns with a couple of phone books. Beumer, 20, came from his native Atlanta to study lighting design and technical support at Point Park. He and his fellow techies — students Dave Stoklosa, Claire Anderson, Jenn Christenson — each are lighting two of the dances. Like choreography, it's a highly subjective process that involves coming up with a set of cues and combination of gels that fit the mood of the dance — and win the approval of the choreographer — not to mention their professors.

"I'm probably more nervous than the dancers," says Beumer, whose hulking affability has earned him the nickname "Hoss."

Onstage, an emotionally charged modern piece, "Mississippi," by junior Karame Adeko, gets through at least two run-throughs before time is called. It's followed by a more austere offering titled "Free" by student choreographer Staci Romine, 20, of West Virginia. She put nine of her fellow dancers onstage in black unitards for the piece, which she set to music from the Balanescu Quartet. Like her fellow choreographers, she chose her dancers during a mass audition in four classrooms divided up according to dance styles. Each of the student dancers can participate in a maximum of three pieces.

"It's my first time choreographing anyone my own age, so it's very intense," says Romine, who has been working on the piece since late August. She watches intently from the front row as the dancers move. When Vasile yells, "Hold please!" to fix a technical glitch, Romine huddles with her dancers.

"The first time, I told them to rock it out and let it shine through," she says later. "The second time, I told them to take it up a notch."

Three years ago, associate director of dance Lynda Martha-Burkel instituted an adjudication process, meaning that students would have to audition their work. While not everybody was receptive at the time, it has resulted in higher-caliber work, Burkel says.

"I think you're seeing a much more sophisticated approach stylistically, where they're focusing on the work itself and they have this wealth of material to draw from," she says. "Musically, their selections are much more sophisticated. They're way past 'Oh, I heard this song on the radio so I'm going to make up a dance to it.'"

Student works from past productions have been presented at regional and American dance festivals.

Two other student choreographers, juniors Mauri Weakly and Jo Ellen Hansen, had their pieces accepted for the show. Both describe the audition process as nerve-racking.

"It's intimidating," says Weakly, a self-possessed 20-year-old and a native of Nashville, Tenn., whose piece is called "Loop." "You're putting your ego on the line for the judges."

"You give part of yourself away," agrees Hansen, a native of Oswego in upstate New York, whose piece is a tap number titled "Drumbone." The cheery junior says she'd like to pursue choreography as opposed to a career as a dancer. "I love tap."