Fresno City College’s dance department is heading back to the stage with their fall 2021 City Dance Concert.
Cristal Tiscareno, a FCC dance professor, plans for not only dancers but musicians and artists at FCC to showcase their talents throughout the concert.
The variety of performing arts in this concert was important for Tiscareno to have since most of the performing arts students have not participated in public in-person events recently.
“My goal was really just being community oriented here at city college and maybe abroad,” she said. “But, just to bring all of the arts together, it’s such a beautiful thing to be back in front of people.”
In total there are 20 dancers involved and ten pieces will be performed.
According to Tiscareno, the ten dance pieces are organized in a flexible manner, with no dependency on an individual, just in case someone does get sick so someone else can take their place.
Most of the dancers are in Dance 21, a performance dance class, while others are in the modern composition class, who are taught how to make choreography.
Angel Pinedo, a dance major at FCC, is one of the students that made the choreography for his solo performance along with performing in three different dance pieces.
He said the starting process was difficult and his choreography was scattered and detached from each idea at times.
However, it all became easier once Tiscareno stepped in to help. Overall, he is grateful for the opportunity.
As this is his third year performing at FCC, he said his experience so far is something he values because it is not a competitive atmosphere.
“Here at City they opened up my heart, my eyes, and my mind and showed me that it doesn’t have to be like that. What you can bring to the community, to art and in itself, is beautiful,” he said.
Tiscareno said preparation for the concert went smoothly due to support from the entire performing arts department.
The only conflict was the mask-wearing for the dancers, as most were worried about how wearing one would affect their breathing when performing.
Agnes Kamara is an English major who is performing for the first time with FCC at the concert.
Kamara said the obstacle of a mask made her focus more on breathing techniques when dancing.
Understanding masks would keep everyone safe, her mentality was to just take the deepest breath and push through her piece.
The dancers hope people come to support the arts and be able to show off their skills and talents they have not been able to due to the pandemic.
“Being a performer, the performance is what you want out of it. There’s nothing better than just being like, hey I worked on this and I want you to enjoy it,” Kamara said.
The concerts are free to attend and performances will be held Nov. 5-6 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 7 at 2 p.m. in the FCC Theatre.
Tickets are only available online.
According to FCC’s Fine and Performing Arts Event Protocols, people are required to show a vaccination card or a negative COVID-19 test upon entering and must wear a mask during the event.