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March 27, 2025

Dance Festival Season Begins Now at UTampa

University of Tampa student dancers will take to the stage in April for three, free, on-campus performances open to the public.

Over 100 students will participate between all three events, and there will be eight student-choreographed pieces. Photo by Alvaro Gabaldon

University of Tampa student dancers will take to the stage in April for three, free, on-campus performances open to the public.

The Spring Arts Continuum will be on Friday, April 4, at 7:30 p.m. This is the dance program’s interdisciplinary performance that celebrates and showcases the talent within the College of Arts and Letters. Held in the Charlene and Mardy Gordon Performance Gallery on the first floor of the Ferman Center for the Arts, the dance performances may incorporate art, music, theatre or poetry.

The Spring Dance Concert will run from Thursday, April 10, through Saturday, April 12, at 8 p.m., in David Falk Theatre, with an additional matinee on Saturday at 2 p.m. For this performance, students worked with dance faculty and a guest artist, Matthew Cumbie, a visiting professor of dance at Maine’s Colby College who has worked with modern dance pioneer Liz Lerman.

The last April event, the Spring Dance Happening, will run Wednesday, April 23, to Friday, April 25, at 8 p.m. in Falk Theatre. Dance Happening is a chance for junior and senior dance majors and minors to create and direct pieces for their peers to perform. Contemporary, jazz and theatrical dance styles will be prominently featured.

Over 100 students will participate between all three events, and there will be eight student-choreographed pieces. Student choreographers were competitively selected and worked with faculty mentors to help them define their own choreographic processes.

UTampa’s dance program traditionally has spread these events over the academic year. However, the main performance venue on campus, Falk Theatre, required extensive renovations after last year’s hurricane season. Falk’s reopening creates what Susannah LeMarquand, director of UTampa’s dance program and assistant professor of dance, calls a “unique opportunity,” giving local Tampa Bay dance fans a month full of original dance content, plus a chance to enjoy the newly renovated David Falk Theatre.

“If you love watching dance, then April’s the month to do it,” said LeMarquand.

Tickets are not required to attend. For more information, contact LeMarquand at mai or (813) 257-6322.