During the first week of September, SF State’s University Dance Theater held auditions in order to select twenty qualified girls and guys. Those selected signed contracts, committing to a year of rehearsing and performing in one or more of five pieces, each consisting of drastically different choreography and music. Each dancer is required to enroll in and attend four technique dance classes for the semester, and rehearse with their choreographer twice a week.

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Choreography is an element of storytelling. By inviting guest choreographers, University Dance Theater’s variety of dance flourishes with movements and style from different cultures, eras, and communities.

“This is my first time choreographing for UDT,” choreographer Amara Tabor-Smith said. “It has been very gratifying. The dancers are very committed and bring a hard working ethic and an openness that is required for the kind of work I create.” Tabor-Smith’s choreography for this year’s performances includes a lot of modern, abstract movements and interaction between dancers. The dancers make sound effects, breathing deeply and yelling.

“The piece explores the issue of identity and how others see us affects how we see ourselves. It also delves into the complexity of how we relate to each other based on our first impressions,” Tabor-Smith said. The sound will be composed of text written by the dancers and music by Nahawa Doumbia.

The 20 dancers will be challenged as they encounter new styles, presented by choreographers’ own experiences in the dance industry. Cathleen McCarthy, Susan Whipp, Paco Gomes, and Byron Seddons, contribute to the array of dance styles. Gomes, a Brazil native, draws inspiration for movement by visualizing daily routines such as dressing. Whipp experiments with the original Petrouchka ballet, initially choreographed by Michel Fokine, by incorporating her own style of dance.

Smith danced with the Urban Bush Women Dance Company, a dance ensemble that produces bold work based on women’s experiences, for ten years and was the Associate Artistic Director from 2004 to 2006.

For 23 years, the Urban Bush Women Dance Company have performed in South America, Australia, Asia, Europe, and throughout the United States, and received the 1992 New York Dance and Performance Award, the 1994 Capezio Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance, and 1998 and 2004 Doris Duke Awards for New Work from the American Dance Festival. Tabor-Smith also founded her own dance company, Deep Waters Dance Theater, in December 2006.

Some student choreography will also be performed at the spring performance, which will be held on March 14, 15, and 16 in McKenna Theater.