DIF alumni came back to the Malibu campus to celebrate and reunite over a film that they had waited to see for nine years, they said.
The 30th anniversary celebration for Dance in Flight (DIF), exclusive for alumni, took place on Saturday, March 16, coinciding with the current DIF team’s annual performance week. The celebration was a series of six events that all took place throughout the day.
Dance in Flight is a student-led dance company that creates a show performed four times within one week every spring semester.
One of the events included an exclusive showing of “Dance in Flight: The Film,” allowing the alumni to share a special moment together, DIF Producer Katie Price said. The film, created in 2013, was a montage of the past shows since the first DIF show in 1993.
Before becoming the DIF Producer and doing any work with DIF, Campus Programs Coordinator and alumna Katie Price (’23) said she planned to make the celebration of the DIF 30th anniversary a larger-scale event.
“We centered the event around the afternoon performance and showing of the film,” Price said.
The celebration began with free time in the studio at 9:45 a.m., for alumni to dance in any way they pleased. Then, they came together for the second event — a luncheon in The Light House at 11:30 a.m., DIF Producer Katie Price said.
Seaver College and DIF alumni David Limon (’17), Shannon Graves (’18), Jazmine Burkett (’17) and Marie Millot (’17) reunited at the luncheon to reminisce.
Limon, Millot and Burkett danced together, and Burkett took part in costume design for the DIF company during their time at Seaver College from 2014-2017, they said.
In 2014, DIF became entirely student-led and choreographed. Some themes the DIF company team explored at that time included imagination and the social movements of the 1960s, which Limon said were more controversial for the time.
“We danced together the time when DIF became student-led,” Limon said. “It was an amazing community at the time.”
After the luncheon, additional alumni came to watch the Saturday DIF performance at 2 p.m. Then, Price led the group through a backstage tour of Smothers Theatre to reminisce further.
For the DIF performance at 2 p.m., Price said she set up a 7×8 foot display of the number 30, with over 600 names of current DIF members and alumni painted on. Additionally, Price compiled a video montage of past DIF performances from the last 15 years, which played in the lobby as they walked in and out of the theatre.
DIF created a film montage in 2013 of past shows, but the film did not air anywhere, Limon said. The alumni as well as the current company team were finally able to watch the film during its showing at the 30th anniversary celebration March 16.
“Last October, we started planning what we thought would be fun for the alumni to do and a big part of it was getting the movie,” Price said. “It was pretty challenging to secure, so we started working on that in November.”
The celebration ended with a dessert reception following the showing of the film.
“Reminiscing was a big thing,” Price said. “We just wanted them to feel as loved and celebrated as possible.”
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Contact Samantha Wareing via email: samantha.wareing@pepperdine.edu or by Instagram: @samanthawareing
