The Department of Visual and Theatre Arts Contemporary Dance class showcased their dancing talents on the UC patio on Oct. 23.

Contemporary Dance instructor Nadia Beard welcomed all on-looking students and thanked them for coming out on such a chilly afternoon.

The dancers began with some warm-up exercises. Some of the dances included back-to-back positions, discovering body parts, mirroring, floor patterns and personal space.

Beard explained the history behind some contemporary dances. According to londondance.com, “A group of new, younger choreographers emerged, chiefly during the 1960s and 70s, described best as the new experimentalists or far avant-garde.

Dances seemed to be improvised and unstructured, pedestrian movements drawn from daily life. They performed on lofts, remolded warehouses, church basements, streets, parks, etc., rather than proscenium theaters or concert halls.”

“The sole purpose of modern dance in education is to encourage creativity and self expression,” Beard said.

After the warm-up period the dancers and their instructor demonstrated several dances for the audience. The crowd also joined in during the free dance period which caused a riot of laughter. As the dance session continued more and more spectators gathered around to see what was going on.

“The program was entertaining and definitely something new,” said Carlisa Cowan, a Secondary Education major.

The finale of their presentation included a “love dance” performed by junior Theater major Jerry Snipes and sophomore Theatre major Ashlee Johnson. The duo performed to Beyonce and Stevie Wonder’s rendition of Luther Vandross’ hit, “So Amazing.” Terrence Shaw, a senior Criminal Justice major, said, “It was an interesting display of talent here at UTM.”