Fourteen Mesa State dance students, students from CU Boulder, and dancers from other areas in Colorado were invited to perform in Aspen with the Aspen Dance Connection Company. Grand Junction dancers were showcased in three fourths of the pieces at the performance. There were dancers from Mesa State, and from local companies Salt Wash Dance Theater, Push/Don’t Pull Dance Productions, and Beyond Boundaries Dance Collective.

MSC senior dancer Cassandra Weaver said, “The purpose of this trip is to get the opportunity to show others what our department is made of and to show the beauty of dance,” Weaver said. “We get to stay in people’s houses while we are up here, we also get to walk around and enjoy the town of Aspen. We do get to have a little fun when we’re not dancing.”

Depending on the semester, students normally have the opportunity to partake in trips such as these twice a semester. Weaver performed in Aspen her freshmen year as well and said, “I loved getting to go to Aspen to perform, it’s a big deal to get asked to do something like this in such a big place like Aspen.”

Freshman attending, Jessica Vandemeer said, “A lot of us were cast in our professors’ dance pieces and they (the professors) select which ones they want to perform at Aspen Dance Connection. If a piece gets selected and you are in it, then you get to go.”

Weaver added, “For the piece that I am in, we all got asked to be in this piece. The other piece was performed in our fall dance concert and they decided to take it with us to Aspen.”

Vandermeer says that highlights of the trip are, “To perform in a show and spread the love of dance to different audiences we don’t normally get to perform for.” Weaver added, “the highlights of this trip are getting the chance to bond with your fellow dancers and to get to meet new people.”

The dancers will have the opportunity to learn from other skilled dancers as members in the audience with an emphasis on modern and jazz styled dance. The Aspen Dance Connection allows for the sharing of dance and expression of the arts to flourish. As a nonprofit organization since 1978, their goal is to educate youth on the beauty of all styles of dance.