GCU Dance Program Highlights
Grand Canyon University students in the College of Arts and Media have the unique opportunity to hone their talents in the areas of advertising and graphic design, digital design, dance, digital film, music, social media and theatre in real-life, professional settings. Through concerts, recitals, film festivals, portfolio reviews, plays and musicals, our accomplished students showcase their work on campus and throughout the community. Take a look below at the work created by fine arts students at GCU.
About "Rooted"
GCU Dance Director Bekki Price’s piece “Adapt. React. Readapt. Apt.” performed by GCU dance majors Ellie Sheldon (senior), Jillian Nelson (senior), Joy Palmer (freshman), Sarah Beebe (senior) and Zoe de Neve (junior) with understudy Kylie Silves (freshman) explored the changes in normalcy experienced by people across the world during the pandemic. This piece was performed in the December 2020 winter concert “Rooted.” “Rooted” was the first dance concert in the 2020-21 season “Under the Stars” performed on the Ethington outdoor stage.
About Isiah Johnson
Isiah Johnson, 2020 BA in Dance graduate’s choreography, “A Hole in the Roof, A Hole in My Sock,” was first presented at the dance program’s 2019 Student Spotlight Concert. The piece was selected by GCU dance faculty to represent GCU at the 2020 American College Dance Association festival. Johnson’s piece was selected to be performed in the gala, making this the eighth consecutive year that a GCU student’s work made the cut.
“The gala was an emotional day for me. It was like finally getting to recognize that all the hard work that I and my dancers and this whole program have put into this event and seeing how far we’ve come,” Johnson said. “It felt like wrapping up the rest of my college career … into two days.”
Since graduating Johnson was selected for a nueBOX residency and received a grant from The Black Artist Fund. nueBOX is a Phoenix based organization that supports artists in creating work.
About Madison Knutson
2019 graduate Madison Knutson is pictured here (center) performing in “Colony,” choreographed by GCU Dance faculty Kevin Godfrey-Chevalier. Knutson, an English for Secondary Education major and dance minor was an active member of the dance program during her four years at GCU. Knutson's piece “The Sun Will Rise, and We Will Too” was choreographed from the 2018 Student Spotlight Concert and selected to represent GCU at the 2019 American College Dance Association (ACDA) western regional festival. ACDA West is a four-day dance conference in which colleges bring choreography to be adjudicated by world-renowned artists. Students perform their work at the concerts each night and adjudicators select certain pieces to be showcased in a gala on the final night of the conference. The piece was one of only three works of student choreography that were selected along with seven pieces choreographed by faculty to be performed in the gala concert at the festival.
About Andrea Pardi
Andrea Pardi was the first dance alumnus to pursue an advanced degree in the field. In 2020 Pardi finished her Master of Fine Arts in Dance at Saint Mary’s College. During her time at GCU she performed as a member of the Ethington Dance Ensemble and choreographed several pieces for the Student Spotlight Dance Concert series. She was also selected to perform in the gala of the 2016 American College Dance Festival.
About "Requiem"
In 2019 GCU’s dance program celebrated its 10th anniversary. To celebrate the 2019 faculty concert, “Reinvent” presented several different genres of dance with its nine performances and focused on the more artistic elements of dance. Dance faculty choreographer Kevin Godfrey-Chevalier piece “Requiem” focused around all the emotions one faces while grieving.
