Tower Dancers performing in the 2024 Spring recital. 

COURTESY | Michael Bessom

 

The student will become the teacher this weekend, as the Tower Dancers present student-choreographed pieces.

The Hillsdale College Tower Dancers will perform their annual spring concert in Markel Auditorium, with shows at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, April 11 and 12, and 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 13. Admission is free, and no tickets are required to attend.

“The rewarding part of directing a dance company and program is we see development from taking their first composition class and creating just a solo work for themselves, to moving on to advanced composition class, where they’re all working on creating a group dance,” Assistant Professor of Dance Holly Hobbs said. “We have several seniors who will be unfortunately leaving this year, so it’s always bittersweet.”

Student choreographers include seniors Abi Pionk, Olivia Rome, and Sophia Rome, along with juniors Ashley DeVore, Hope Huisman, and Faith Niekamp. Three guest choreographers assisted the dancers: Samantha Shelton, instructing in ballet; Jovita Weibel in modern and Megan Wiggers in contemporary. Hobbs and Lecturer in Dance Sean Hoskins also contributed to choreography.

The student pieces being performed this spring were chosen through a competitive process last semester.

“Only a select number of the dances actually moved forward,” Niekamp said.

Niekamp’s dance is a Western ballet that runs for more than 11 minutes and is the culmination of eight months of preparation.

“It’s telling the story of an outlaw who comes into this little Western town, and the townswomen are like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is horrible, and we need somebody to save us,’” Niekamp said. “So they hire a cowboy, and the cowboy comes in and saves the day. That’s the very broad, cliché storyline that’s being followed.”