Spring Break
"Not all serious ballet"
The EIU Dancers perform a variety of dances and show off their talent
Emily Zulz/Activities Reporter
Issue date: 3/28/08 Section: News
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What: "With Heart and Sole"
When: 7 p.m. today, 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: McAfee Gymnasium
*The performance is free.
A big moment in Jeanna McFarland's life was when she saw her first live ballet.
McFarland was in college at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Her dance teacher arranged a field trip to the Muny Opera in St. Louis to see the "best couple ever in ballet history" - Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev.
"I still get chills when I think about it," McFarland said. "It was just incredible."
McFarland said this performance was a big influence on her.
She had been dancing all her life around the house, but did not get serious until her junior year in college.
She changed her major to theater with a dance specialization and never looked back.
"It's just my love," McFarland said. "Why does anyone love anything? I just loved it."
McFarland is the director of EIU Dancers and a faculty member in the kinesiology and sports studies department.
The EIU Dancers will perform "With Heart and Sole" at 7 p.m. today and 7:30 p.m. Saturday in McAfee Gymnasium. The performance is free.
McFarland studied modern dance, ballet and jazz in New York City for four years.
While there, she studied under several famed dancers including Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham.
Graham and Cunningham are both modern dancers and are each celebrated for their choreography.
Chrissy Delligatti, a senior elementary education major and secretary for the EIU Dancers, said McFarland is someone for the EIU Dancers to look up to because she went to New York and followed her dreams with dance.
She said McFarland was "in our shoes at one time" so she can relate to how the dancers are feeling.
"Dance is as special to her as it is to us," Delligatti said.
McFarland said she likes working with the EIU Dancers because they're serious about what they do.
"It's not just a class," she said. "They're serious dancers. It's an opportunity for me to let them do what they love to do."
Nancy Nordtvedt created the EIU Dancers in 1981. McFarland became co-director when she joined Eastern's faculty in 1991. She became director upon Nordtvedt's retirement in 2005.
This year's show will feature a variety of songs and dances, including lyrical, jazz and hip-hop.
It features 22 pieces choreographed by McFarland and members of the company.
The dancers have been working towards this show since September, some working for four-hour practices, four days a week. Oftentimes, the dancers will start choreographing pieces in the summer before the school year even begins.
Krystle Gravitt, a senior elementary education major and president of the EIU Dancers, said the dancers have put a lot of effort and time into practicing and rehearsing and it will show in their performances this weekend.
"I would say this year is the best quality dancers we've had in the past four years," Gravitt said.
Delligatti said the company had a lot of new girls come in with experience and that, combined with experience already on the team, raised the talent level.
McFarland said when the dancers have more experience they can handle more difficult choreography, which raises the level of the performance.
Gravitt said this year has a lot more thought-out choreography with more emotional, lyrical pieces.
"This year's a lot more artsy," she said.
Kelly Maher, a senior elementary education major and vice president of the EIU Dancers, said this year's performance is not as traditional as it has been in the past because their choreography has been inspired.
She said new ideas for dances have come from new dance shows on television like "So You Think You Can Dance," "Dancing with the Stars" and "America's Best Dance Crew."
Gravitt said the show is "not all serious ballet."
"I think sometimes people get confused that we're going to do 20 pointe routines because we're the dance company on campus so they don't come," she said. "They don't realize that half the dances we're doing are fast, jazz dances to songs that are on the radio right now," she said.
Gravitt said someone does not have to be a dancer to understand or appreciate the EIU Dancers' performance.
McFarland said the company tries to have something for everyone.
"Our audience is so varied; what grandma and grandpa like, college students don't," she said.
Emily Zulz can be reached at 581-7942 or at eazulz@eiu.edu.
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