University at Buffalo dance students ended their week with a Broadway flair on Friday.
Two members of The Great Gatsby Broadway musical's national tour taught dancers the moves to one of their songs, followed by a Q and A session.
The classes are a chance to pass on what they’ve learned from the show’s choreographers, Fight Coordinator Kurt Kemper said.
“The choreography, the language is inspired by so many different references that I feel like the way they articulated that to us has given us a good baseboard to like bring that to someone new, who has no idea what the language of the choreography is, and explaining to them how they can find that in their own bodies,” he said.
It’s part of UB’s Friday Forum Guest Dance Artists Program, where different guest instructors teach dance and theater students each week. Learning from professionals is something they don’t take for granted, UB senior Violet Schraver said.
“To get a guest every week is just adding to all our different skills and different things that we learn from different people," she said. "We're making connections, so it's just a wonderful opportunity to work with these individual professionals that are doing exactly what we want to do.”
Friday Forums include national and local talents ranging from performers and directors to scholars. The school had just over 20 last academic year, with about 10 so far this year.
The tour across the US and Canada has included several stops at college dance classes, Dance Coordinator Kyle Caress said.
“It's really fun to work with students, especially like dance students, because I feel like they have more of like a knowledge behind it," he said. "And the questions they ask are a little more specific than the general public, like the general audience would have.”
There's a noticeable difference when visiting communities like Buffalo with a strong theater presence, he added.
"If we didn't have the base of, you know, theater-goers that have been like established through all of these local and regional theaters that are in Buffalo, ... then I feel like Buffalo wouldn't be able to support the tours that go through," Caress said.
The Great Gatsby is performing November 10 to 15 at Shea’s.
