Lighting up the stage this week at the CMU’s Asteria, is the CMU dance program’s annual dance, “Fall for Dance,” a student showcase that will be filled with movement, music, connection and emotion.
“It’s super important for the students because they have an opportunity to perform… it’s a great opportunity for them to practice [their] professional skills,” CMU dance professor and administrator Kathy Diehl said.
With 25 students preparing to showcase their hard work, it can be demanding, rewarding and life learning: for dancers Camden Adams and Natalie Griffith it is a bit of all three.
“Biggest thing dance has taught me… I’m a lot more resilient than I thought… I can do hard things, and I can do all these things that I didn’t think I was capable of… community is a really big part of dance… those bonds that you make are just incomparable to anything else,” Griffith said.
Adams agreed and added that finding balance is critical for her wellbeing.
“Taking personal time every day, like my nightly stretching and all that is something I definitely value to, like, come back to myself and then be able to [be okay].”
Both dancers hope that after leaving the theater the audience will feel the heart and community of these dances.
“It can bring out emotions for you and make you feel like a sense of some sort of community, and give a lot of people hope, especially in like harder times. So yeah, I hope they leave feeling hopeful,” Adams said.
Griffith added, “I want them to see the joy that everyone gets from performing. There’s a lot of hard work that goes into it, but there’s also just, like, a lot of happiness and joy that I feel like is shown on the stage”
Three guest choreographers, Kelly Johnson, Rhianna Cranston and Daniel Charon, have contributed to the magical creation of these upcoming shows. The dancers have learned a lot about them.
“From Daniel Charon I learned about modern technique, like, more in depth was kind of the main thing I got from that… with Rhianna, it was just like such a fun experience… she basically set like a hip hop fusion piece on us, which I found so fun, because I love hip hop,” Adams said.
“When Rhianna was here, she was just like, so in tune with her own movement. It’s so amazing to get to take class from someone who is so experienced and like who has so much to offer.” Griffith said.
Diehl had nothing but praise for her students.
“Our dance program has grown so much we have some absolutely phenomenal dancers right now. It’s really exciting to watch their caliber of dancing, and the caliber of the choreography is really excellent… Why not support the arts?”
Shows will be on Nov 7- 8, 2025. Tickets and more information can be found on the CMU stages website.
“Come see Fall for Dance, and dance!” Griffith stated.
