A dance concert will be performed in the Cerritos College Burnight Center Theatre, Thurs.- Sat., with show times starting at 8 p.m. each night.

Presented in conjunction with Cerritos College’s Associated Students organization and its dance department, the show will be a blending of dance students, faculty choreographers and guest artists.

Students from every dance class offered on campus, from the very beginning to the most advanced, will have some kind of role in the show.

If they are not performing, then they will be handling technical duties such as lighting, music, curtains or ushering.

Without an official theme, dance instructor, and one of the show’s choreographers, Alyson Jones said it possibly could be “diversity.”

In describing what the audience could expect to see, she said, “We have dancers that are very abstract, modern . . . we have pieces that are very classical, and we also have world dance as well.”

There will also be live musicians on stage during some of the pieces. “It’s something that’s unusual that makes this concert stand out from other concerts,” Jones said.

The choreographers picked music from a selection by the Robin Cox ensemble, which has worked with the Cerritos College dance department before.

Jones really likes the idea that all the choreographers picked music from the same artist. She says it’s “wonderful because it really makes us focus in on a particular type of style” She says that makes a difference in another concert that you go to where you might hear many different styles.

I caught up with students from Jones’ beginning ballet class as it was in the midst of final preparations for its soon approaching performance.

Last week during class, Jones’ students took a time out from dancing to quite literally, make their costumes and stage props.

They were painting parts of their costumes wild colors, and gluing newspaper and construction paper together for their props.

Before getting to the costumes and props stage, however, the dance department has been getting its dance moves ready for this concert all semester.

From the first day of classes, students knew they were preparing for the concert.

The anticipation of the upcoming performance is producing a variety of emotions from the show’s performers.

There are first time performers like Jennifer Garber, who is “very nervous” about performing in front of an audience.

And there are the veterans like Stephanie Amaya and Anthony Flores who have been dance partners for the last four years.

Flores said, “I love performing so I can’t wait for [the show].”

“With me and him it’s kind of like embedded in us, so we’re used to [the anticipation] already,” Amaya added. “Every time you go up there it’s like you’re doing it for the first time again.

Over the weekend, all the dance classes got a chance to finally rehearse their pieces on the Burnight stage.

Each group had a set amount of time to work on dance steps, lighting of the performers, sound and various other details.

This was the time to work all the kinks out.

The dance department has really worked hard to put this show together.

During the weekend rehearsal, performer, Ka-Ce Abshier said, “Right now I’m excited, but on show night I’ll be really nervous.”

She added, “Dancing is a lot of fun . . . you need a lot of practice and a lot of rehearsal time, but it’s all from God.”