GORHAM, ME — USM Department of Theatre wraps up its 2024-2025 season with the USM Spring Dance Concert, featuring new dance works by five choreographers and performed by USM dance students April 25th-27th at Russell Hall on the USM Gorham Campus.

Director Jessie Laurita-Spanglet joins fellow USM faculty choreographers Maria Tzianabos and Vanessa Beyland and guest choreographers Tristan Koepke and Emma Tomkins for this second-annual dance concert. For Laurita-Spanglet, this is a chance to celebrate the growing culture of dance at USM, “Last Spring we had nine wonderful student performers involved in our concert, and this year we have built that out to include twenty student performers…I am most excited about this build-up of student participation and the growing appetite for live concert dance at USM.”

Maria Tzianabos and Vanessa Beyland bring years of experience teaching ballet, jazz, tap, and musical theatre dance at USM to their pieces. Tristan Koepke is a seasoned dance-maker and performer who has been creating work with professional dancers for many years. Emma Tomkins is a young, emerging choreographer who graduated from the USM Department of Theatre and works locally as a choreographer in both theatre and dance. All have been developing and rehearsing their pieces with the student dancers throughout the spring semester.

Laurita-Spanglet says, “One of the wonderful things about choreographing is that unlike visual art where you work with paints or clay, or music where you work with an instrument, dances are created with the movers themselves as the most important material…The process tends to be quite collaborative and unfolds over time based on the interaction between the movers and the choreographer.”

Each choreographer draws from a wide range of influences and inspirations to create their pieces. Laurita-Spanglet’s piece was born from an interest in Audio Description for dance. She says, “Audio Description is a practice of speaking out loud the action that is happening on stage so that more people, especially those who are blind or visually impaired, can access and understand dance. My interest with this piece was to use language to help audience members gain greater access to what is happening onstage, and then to explore how that type of communication affects perception, memory, and time as the work unfolds.”

The USM Spring Dance Concert

April 25-27, 2025

Russell Hall, USM Gorham Campus

General Admission: $18

Senior 65+: $12

USM Faculty/Staff/Alumni: $14

USM Students & Non-USM Students: $8

Group rate: $8/person – for schools and community groups

All tickets $8 on Friday, April 25th.

To purchase tickets, or for more information, visit USM Theatre online at https://usm.maine.edu/department-theatre/ or call the USM Theatre Box Office at (207) 780-5151. For more information on USM’s Department of Theatre events and programs, click here.

Those needing special accommodations to participate fully in this program, contact Janice Gardner at (207)780-5289 or janice.gardner@maine.edu. Hearing impaired: call USM’s telex / TDD number (207)780-5646.

Dance Concert rehearsals, photos by Sarah Graff Photography.