The lights come up on five white boxes. A young man climbs up onto the center box so that he stands above the rest of the group. He begins to conduct them through a chorus of angelic ‘la la las’ and, all at once, the show is underway. The Musical Theater Workshop class has combined with the Musical Theater dance class to present a selective production of the musical Nine. The cast includes five main female singers, one male, and a 12-person ensemble of dancers. Shannon Elliott, the director of the dance department and choreographer of the show, acknowledges this year’s switch from previous Musical Theater Workshop performances. “Music Theater Workshop has usually been reviews in a way, songs from different shows. This feels like a more honed, complete production. It’s just a different take on the class,” Elliott says. “I think that they’ve matured and they have to have an extra certain sophistication… It gives the students the opportunity to rise to the occasion.” Alaina Zachary, who teaches the Musical Theater Workshop class, has also seen this tremendous growth in each individual from the beginning of the semester. “People are not only owning their roles, but trying new things. It’s so thrilling because once they take it and run with it, they’re responsible for their own success… I just couldn’t be happier with our results,” Zachary says. Nine opens with a preview at 7 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 11. Shows are at 7 p.m. Dec. 12-13 as well as 2 p.m., Dec. 13. Tickets for the weekend are free, but must still be obtained through the Lensic box office, 211 West San Francisco St.,...

The first week of school usually consists of meeting classmates and reading through countless syllabi. In SFUAD’s dance department however, rehearsals are already in full swing. With the dancer’s first performance this weekend as a part of The After Hours Alliance Festival of Progressive Arts, and their second just two weeks later in celebration of Greer Garson’s 110th birthday, all seven dance majors have schedules full of rehearsals and brains full of choreography. Shannon Elliott, the chair of the dance department, described a vibrant, eclectic group of five new students. With three new women and two new men, all with different dance backgrounds, hailing from various parts of the country, the diversity and collective experience of the department only seems to be growing. “It’s nice to have this new energy, and just a new comradery that I see occurring. Them working together not only in class, but also in rehearsals,” Elliott says. There are also two new faculty members contributing to the further growth of the department. Banu Ogan, who will be teaching both ballet and modern classes, taught at Juilliard for almost an entire decade after her career with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. A new ballroom class that will address swing, tango and salsa will be taught by Mike Garcia, a prominent figure in the Santa Fe dance scene. “I think it’s great to actually have them here and to see who the dance majors are,” says Elliott. “And to begin conceptualizing how we can move this group forward together.” Elliott also has plans to bring in guest choreographers not only to make original works, but also to teach master classes and set existing pieces on the dancers. With only a week of the new school year under their belts, this upcoming semester is already...

For the next two weekends, the dramatic story of Spring Awakening will grace the Greer Garson Theatre stage. Director Gail Springer has led a cast of more than 20 through months of rehearsals, which will soon culminate in five performances.