By Christina Littlefield
 A&E Editor

A tap dancer will meticulously choreograph several base moves into a show-stopping performance. A hip hop dancer will isolate different movements within the body to form a cohesive whole to every beat of the music. A ballerina will tell a story with every graceful move of her arm or combination of pirouette.

“Dance is a legacy,” said Nathan Johnson, co-president of Dance in Flight. “You build choreography upon older choreography upon older choreography, upon ideas and thoughts — while always moving forward and creatively stretching yourself.”

Johnson is one of many seniors and 80 dancers hoping to leave their “Legacy” behind in Dance in Flight’s major dance production Feb. 7 and 8 in Smothers Theatre.

“Legacy is how dance goes on and how we leave our legacy with our choreography and our touch and our hope,” said Johnson, who has served as the group’s president since his sophomore year.

His co-president and producer of the Smothers production, Hilary Rushford, believes the theme recognizes those who have built Dance in Flight up over the last eight years, and inspires those who will come after.

“As dancers we’ve each been shaped by mentors, teachers and idols,” Rushford wrote in an e-mail interview. “As Dance in Flight, we are who we are thanks to the legacy of the teachers and students who came before us. What we do at Dance in Flight this year and every year is the legacy we’re leaving for those who follow us.”

The production includes 18 numbers from all different styles of dance, such as tap, ballet, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, modern and world or cultural dances.  The variety of performances was another reason the group chose to name this spring’s production “Legacy.”

“We wanted a title that didn’t reflect just one kind of dance, like the salsa parade,” finance chair Katharine Alade said. “We needed something that encompassed the dances but let everybody know that it is in continuum, something that we are building on from last year and getting stronger.”

The idea of promoting a “Legacy” motivated the choreographers and dancers of Dance in Flight, but it is not meant to be a theme within each dance.

“There is no one theme that encompasses all the dances,” Alade said. “Each dance is its own dance. … We wanted everyone to be as free or as liberal as they want in their four minutes of fame.”

The pieces are choreographed by many of the graduating seniors such as Johnson and Rushford, as well as the faculty co-directors Marykate Harris and Kristin Benjamin.

Dance in Flight, which also performs for free at student events such as Midnight Madness, holds open auditions in the fall for both dancers and choreographers. Students of all experience levels are welcome to try out for whatever type of dance they want to do.

“Dance in Flight is a combination of your serious dancers, those who have had professional experience, and others are just getting their feet wet with this,” Benjamin said. “It is a range of experience that makes it really fun to work with.”

Johnson, a theater major, joined Dance in Flight as a freshman with little dance experience. He now has 22 dance units under his belt. He loves the energy in dance.

“I enjoy the physical (aspect) of it,” Johnson said. “You have to be completely in your body, nothing else can be going on in your mind when you are dancing. You have to be in the moment, physically ready to do the movement you are about to do. You have to be on.”

Dance in Flight gave Katie Ebeling a chance to renew a childhood hobby.

“I didn’t dance for quite a few years (before joining Dance in Flight as a junior), so it was a good way for me to get back into it, regain my passion for it,” she said.

Ebeling also got the chance to learn tap, something she had never been exposed to before.

Originally a club under the Inter-Club Council, Dance in Flight is restructuring in order to find better funding for its productions.

Alade said the group was originally supposed to be part of the Student Programming Board before its recent budget issues.

They are now receiving aid from the Pepperdine Center for the Arts and from past ticket sales.

The shows usually sell out, but Rushford said student support is a must for continuing Dance in Flight’s legacy.

“We have phenomenal talent at this university and students who need and deserve their own department someday, and with (student) support we’re one step closer,” she said.

Student tickets are available in Smothers Box Office for $6.

January 31, 2002