The dance program at CSU’s University Center for the Arts will present the Dance Major Capstone Concert: Vitality on Friday, Dec. 12, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 13, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. in the University Dance Theatre at the University Center for the Arts, 1400 Remington St.
This end-of-semester concert provides senior dance majors a chance to showcase their choreography, performance, and production talents in a capstone concert event.
Tickets are $8 for CSU students, $8 for youth (under 18), and $18 for the public. Tickets are available at the University Center for the Arts ticket office in the UCA lobby, by phone at (970) 491-ARTS (2787) or online at www.CSUArtsTickets.com. Youth tickets must be purchased in person at the Ticket Office. Advance purchase is recommended to avoid at-the-door fees.
Solo and group pieces
The spring show, entitled “Vitality,” features the performance and choreography work of Lindsay Dighero, Madison Lobato, Meaghan Suchomel, and Melissa Pite. The concert is an opportunity for graduating seniors in the dance program to display all that they have learned from the last four years. Each dancer has put together a solo performance as well as a group piece, and is involved with all of the production aspects of the concert from start to finish.
Lindsay Dighero’s group piece, entitled “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” is based on the abstract feeling of not being scared to be in a dark point of life. The piece revolves around the idea that the many experiences and relationships in life shape us into who we are, and expresses the types of relationships that can be beneficial or hurtful. The piece is based on the quote “Don’t be afraid to move on alone, even your shadow leaves you in the darkness.” Lindsay’s solo piece, entitled “Pull Yourself Together,” is based on the conflict in no one being perfect despite an overall desire for perfection. The piece strives to reveal the absolute beauty of imperfections.
Madison Lobato’s group piece is a contemporary dance with an overall theme of her growth as a dancer. The piece is divided into three sections, each exhibiting dancing that matches the tempo of each song chosen. This theme continues into her solo piece, a contemporary ballet that showcases her growth as a classical dancer throughout the years before and during her time at Colorado State University.
Meaghan Suchomel’s group piece is an exploration of water and the metaphor that it lends to life. While water may sometimes be absorbed and stay forever, it may also drip and take a while to disappear, in the same way that some experiences will stick with a person for their entire life, while others will eventually fade away. The overall theme of this piece is inspired by the quote “be like a duck and let it roll right off of your back.” Her solo piece examines the question “Why Not?” and the idea that we should not ask ourselves why we shouldn’t do something but rather why we wouldn’t. This piece is based on the Robert Kennedy quote, “There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why … I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”
Melissa Pite’s group piece is based on the theme of adaptation and the ways in which humans evolve and adapt to many different environments. The piece is divided into three different sections, each focusing on a specific environment into which humans have evolved to survive. Her solo is a contemporary ballet that demonstrates her personal strengths, which is based on her own experiences, particularly in traveling, that have deeply shaped her.
About the directors
Lindsay Nicole Dighero grew up in Thornton, Colo. She began dancing at the age of 3, studying many styles including ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hop, and lyrical/contemporary at Premier School of Dance. Lindsay had the opportunity to dance with the Schiff Dance Collective’s training company for four years in Boulder, Colo. Lindsay has also taken part in the Boulder Jazz Dance Workshop technique classes and student performances. Through high school, Lindsay danced, choreographed, and was named captain for the color guard at Legacy High School in Broomfield, Colo. Lindsay had the privilege of studying under Karin Gritz, Alexandra Fields, Nicole O’Farrell, and Jenny Schiff. Lindsay enrolled in the Dance Division at Colorado State University in fall 2011, where she has trained in ballet (Vaganova), modern, choreography, and pedagogy. She has received the CSU Dance Division Scholarship each school year from fall 2012 to the present. She has also received the Jane Sullivan Scholarship for Dance Edcuation for the 2014–2015 school year.
Madison Elizabeth Lobato was born in Denver, Colo., and raised in Aurora, Colo. Madison started dancing at age 3, beginning at the Colorado Dance Academy in Aurora, where she was introduced to ballet, tap, and jazz, then spending several more years studying with the Dance Movement studio in Aurora. It was here that she started her focus primarily in ballet. During this time she performed in two productions of the City of Aurora’s Nutcracker as “Party Girl” and “Snowflake.” At age 14 Madison started dancing with the National Ballet Academy of Denver in Lone Tree, Colo., studying under Cornell Callender and Andrei Vassiliev. Madison was accepted into the CSU Dance Division in September 2011. Madison has had many performance opportunities while at CSU, performing the Nutcracker’s Sugar Plum Fairy variation in the Annual Holiday Gala Concert at the Lincoln Center in Fort Collins and excerpts from Anna Sokolow’s Rooms, restaged by Yunyu Wang, Don Quixote, Pas de Quatre and Swan Lake. She has also performed at the College of Liberal Arts Faculty Awards Celebration with the CSU Repertory Ensemble, Excerpts from Etudes. In the fall of 2013 she choreographed a group piece, Out of Reach, a piece that was selected to be performed in the faculty Fall Dance Concert.
Meaghan Anne Suchomel was born and raised in Aurora, Colo. She began her dance training at the age of 10 with Miller’s Dance Studio, where she studied many techniques including ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, modern, and musical theatre. Some of her favorite roles that she had the opportunity to perform with her studio include Clara from The Nutcracker, Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and Alice from Alice in Wonderland. She also spent many years on the studio’s competition team, Tour De Force, where she performed and attended conventions all over the state and country. In her senior year at Cherokee Trail High School, she was the captain of the Varsity Poms Team. Meaghan was accepted into CSU and joined the CSU Dance Division in Fall 2011. Her freshman year, she danced for the CSU Golden Poms Team, and after her first year decided to focus and put all of her efforts into her dance major. Meaghan has received the CSU Dance Division Scholarship every year since fall 2012 and was excited and grateful to earn the Grace and Dwight Harris Dance Scholarship in her senior year. She has also proudly held a spot on the CSU Liberal Arts Dean’s List and been a member of The National Society of Collegiate Scholars since spring 2012.While at CSU, Meaghan has created many of her own choreographic works, two of which were specifically selected to be performed in the Fall and Spring Faculty Dance Concerts.
Melissa Pite was born in Woodstock, N.Y. At the age of 1, she moved to Boulder, Colo., where she resided through high school. Melissa began performing at the age of 6, and was a member of Expressions Jazz Dance Company for five years, where she attended numerous competitions, workshops and master classes. Melissa began her formal training under Ana Claire Davison, Peter Davison, Rob Kuykendall, and Becky Jancosko at the Boulder Ballet School in 2003, where she trained until she graduated from Boulder High School in 2010. In 2012, Melissa transferred to Colorado State University. In her college carrier, Melissa has received many awards, honors, and scholarships. At the University of Utah, Melissa received both the Olga Alexandria Logan Scholarship and the Michael Foundation Scholarship (2010-2011; 2012). At Colorado State University, Melissa has received the CSU Ram Grant, National Society of Leadership and Success Sigma Alpha Pi Award, and Commitment to Colorado Scholarship (2012-2013; 2014) and she has been on the Dean’s List every semester that she has attended the University of Utah and CSU (2010-‘11; ‘12; ‘13; ‘14).
The University Center for the Arts at Colorado State University provides an enriched venue in which the study and practice of Art, Dance, Music and Theatre are nurtured and sustained by building the skills and knowledge needed by future generations of arts professionals to become contributors to the essential vitality of our culture and society.
For more information, visit UCA.Colostate.edu.
