Heroes Brave the Stage: Snapshots of Our Spring Dance Concert

After 14 weeks of practice and training, 126 students took to the stage for NYU Shanghai’s Spring Dance Concert, “Heroes,” on May 12. “We chose the theme ‘Heroes’ because of the significance of small acts of bravery, courage, and selflessness which impact us all,” says Associate Arts Professor Aly Rose.

Waltz of the Flowers Act 1: Huang Baojia ’22, Daisy Bulgarin ’21, and Shan Xin ’21 from Ballet class danced to “The Nutcracker, Op. 71, Act 2: No. 13 Waltz of the Flowers” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Bells & Drums: Choreography & Performance dancers synchronized their movements to two different drumming pieces, “Drumming Part 1 & Part 4,” by Steve Reich. From left to right: Marisol Gallardo ’20, Gabi Branche ’21, April Sun ’19, Diana Xu ’19, Rachelle Ngo ’21, Abdullah Mobeen ’19

Heart’s Prayer: Lily Huang ’21 performing a Tibetan dance to “Wish” by Rexi Cairangdan and “Norbu” by Bruno Coulais.

Zhu Canyu ’21 playing Chopin’s “Minute Waltz Op. 64 No.1.”

Detectives & The Pink Panther: Students from the Jazz / Contemporary class danced to the “The Pink Panther Theme” by Bobby McFerrin and “The Pink Panther Song Remix” by TrapMusic.

Dona Nobis Pacem: Gabi Branche ’21, Dylan Pallandino ’21, and Christina Bowllan ’21 dance to “Dona Nobis Pacem 2” by Max Richter.

Krystal Gong ’22 playing “Summer” by Joe Hisaishi.

Group Voice students Kong Xiaoyan ’21, Yang Jiaxin ’21, Xu Yitong ’21, Huang Jianing ’22, and Dong Shuting ’19 sing “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You / I Love You Pretty Baby” by Frank Valli, Bob Crewe, and Bob Gaudio.

Students performing a Dai Minority dance called “The Women of Highland,” choreographed by Liping Yang, a dancer famous across China for her performance of the Dai peacock dance.

Marisol Gallardo ’20 from Choreography & Performance dancing to “Trójkąt Cz.1, Tylko Ty, Trójkąt Cz.2” by JIMEK and Adam Aston / “Heroes” written by David Bowie and Brian Eno, sung by Peter Gabriel.

Robert Melikyan ’21 and Abdullah Mobeen ’19 from Choreography & Performance dancing to “Trójkąt Cz.1, Tylko Ty, Trójkąt Cz.2” by JIMEK and Adam Aston / “Heroes” written by David Bowie and Brian Eno, sung by Peter Gabriel.

The finale of the Spring Concert ended with “Heroes” performed by Gabi Branche ’21, Liang Xiao, Rachelle Ngo ’21, April Sun ’19, Robert Melikyan ’21, Diana Xu ’19, Marisol Gallardo ’20, Abdullah Mobeen ’19, Jannie Zhou. “This semester, the students worked extremely hard in their diverse performances. The Choreography & Performance class was also invited to TANK Shanghai to film and perform their own piece, “Bells & Drums,” says Rose.