Local dancers and choreographers will have the opportunity to showcase original work in the new show Beta, premiering Saturday at Phoenix Center for the Arts.
The show consists of 14 original pieces submitted by the dancers and choreographers featuring styles such as contemporary, hip-hop, ballet and cultural dance.
“The main goal of Beta is just to bring together the dance community that we have here,” said Michaela Konzal, the show’s director. “I think it’s unique because it’s the dancers and the choreographers that are in the show that make the show.”
The idea for the show came from a conversation about the Valley’s increased need for dancers and dancers’ increased need for opportunities, said Joseph Benesh, director of the Phoenix Center for the Arts, which is located on Moreland and Third streets. Benesh said the center created this event in order to give local artists the ability to invent and show their own work.
“The community, like any community, can benefit from cross-section collaboration,” he said.
To create the show, a “very grassroots campaign” was started to find submissions, with an application for dancers and choreographers posted online. The response was better than expected.
“We were expecting a half a dozen entries because this is new … we had 19 entries,” Benesh said. “The response tells me that we tapped into a real need.”
Beta will be the first of a series, currently projected to be presented twice a year, with a new show planned for the fall. Each show will be unique as new artists apply, Konzal said, adding, “It’s really the submissions that determine what the audience is going to see.”
An artist and ASU alumna featured in the show, Hannah Cooper, said she thinks the event is “a great way for people to show their work” during a time of year when opportunities do not usually exist for dancers. She said that the summer is typically not a popular season for dance shows.
Cooper will be performing a modern and experimental piece called “The Things I Keep.”
“Its about my fascination with keeping things,” Cooper said. The piece also deals with her struggle of deciding what is good for her to keep and what she needs to let go of.
Another artist featured in the show, Jenny Gerena, said that she was amazed at the great turnout of artists. “I think that we have always had amazing artists,” Gerena said, noting that Phoenix is experiencing exciting growth in the dance community.
Gerena will perform a duet titled “From Dirt To Soil,” which is about “progression through life, through journey,” she said. The piece is “not necessarily stylistic,” she added, calling it “an honest working together of two people.”
Beta is unique not only because of the structure and dance selections featured in the show, but also because the artists are being compensated with a portion of the ticket sales.
Benesh said that the decision to pay the artists was made immediately in order to communicate to the dance community that their efforts are appreciated.
“We need to value all of our artists,” Benesh said.
The show will be split up into two performances, one beginning at 6 p.m. and another at 9 p.m. with a mixer in between from 7 to 9 p.m. The two performances will consist of different pieces, making each show diverse. Tickets cost $10 for one performance or $15 for both.
Contact the reporter at Samantha.Shotzbarger@asu.edu
