Submitted Photo The Fredonia Dance Ensemble will perform on Friday, May 6 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, May 7 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. in Marvel Theatre at the State University of New York at Fredonia. The event is part of the Walter Gloor Mainstage Series presented by the Department of Theatre and Dance.

On Friday and Saturday, the Fredonia Dance Ensemble returns to the stage of Marvel Theatre at the State University of New York at Fredonia for its first in-person concert since 2019.

Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and at 2 and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Twenty-six BFA Dance majors will perform. The FDE concert is presented by the Department of Theatre and Dance as part of the 2021-22 Walter Gloor Mainstage Series.

Tickets are available through the Fredonia Campus Ticket Office in the Williams Center, by phone at 716-673-3501 and online at fredonia.edu/tickets.

Fredonia Dance Ensemble Director Paula J. Peters discussed what it means to be able to return to a live, in-person presentation after a two-year gap.

“The hardest thing about the pandemic for dancers and choreographers was the loss of moving our bodies together in real time in the same space, and sharing that energy with the audience,” said Peters. “I think many of us never realized how transformative live dance performance was until we couldn’t do it anymore.”

The director describes returning to the stage “like a return to being fully alive. Working with students on choreography, watching them push themselves physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually?has been an incredibly joyful experience. We are so grateful to be back in the theater, and thankful for all the people in the studio, and behind the scenes, who have done the hard work to make this performance possible”

In addition to works choreographed by Fredonia Dance faculty members, the Dance majors will perform pieces created by guest artists Carlos Jones, Irvin Gonzalez and Alfonso Cervera. Residencies the guest artists were made possible with support from the Williams Visiting Professor Endowment through the Fredonia College Foundation.

“We were also fortunate to have Carlos Jones, Irvin Gonzalez and Alfonso Cervera come to campus for a week-long teaching and choreographic residency to create a work on Fredonia Dance Ensemble,” Peters said. “Additionally, Irvin and Alfonso will be returning to campus and will perform a duet they created while in residence.”?

In the end, Peters hopes the Fredonia Dance Ensemble performance will be a transformative one for audience members as well.

“I hope that people will connect with something?in the concert that resonates with them as humans, sit with ideas that might push them to think differently, and experience a transformational moment for themselves,” the director said.