Every spring, Wilkes University holds a dance concert, which includes all of the students taking dance classes in the spring semester. It is held on-campus at the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center. This year, the concert will be held at 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 21, on the Main Stage.

“The dancers prepare the entire semester for the spring concert. In addition to working on technique for the beginners, learning the basics of each dance discipline, we begin working on choreography early in the semester,” Lynne Mariani, one of the dance teachers choreographing the concert, said.

The dance department takes full advantage of the whole semester to teach and practice the choreography with the students.

“All students involved in the concert are dedicated to the goal and often work outside of class to prepare,” Mariani added.

Senior history major Jared Brownmiller will be performing in five pieces for the concert, consisting of eight dances total. Brownmiller is not the only one who will be in more than one performance, though.

For many, having to make it to practices while staying on top of one’s other classes can be a lot to handle.

“In order to prepare myself for this amount of dances (I have to do), there has to be a lot of practice time and hard work put in at the dance studio,” Brownmiller said.

An average week for Brownmiller consists of practicing for two hours every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for his modern dance and jazz dance pieces.

The three other dances Brownmiller will be performing in are choreographed by fellow students, who he meets with once a week for practices that run anywhere from two to three hours.

Along with the rest of the dance department, Brownmiller has been practicing for months. With spring and Easter break now behind him, Brownmiller said it is now “time to put in more hours so we can perfect our dances and clean up all the details, (and) so we are ready to put on a great show for the spring recital.”

“Dance,” he said jokingly, “or die.”