Budget cutbacks, changing staff, and the temporary closing of the Garvin Theatre have all threatened to stop the Dance Concert class’ recitals, but they keep performing.

Celebrating among other things the one hundred-year history of City College, this year’s dance concert will host three performances on May 8 and 9 at the Center Stage Theater in the Paseo Nuevo Mall. But that’s not all that’s happening this semester in the dance section of the Physical Education Department.

Dance Instructor Pamela Lappen is enthusiastic that they have been able to maintain City College’s quality program, despite the budget concerns facing all departments.

“I tell my students, and not just dance students, that they have to let the college know what their needs are by registering for classes early,” Lappen said.

This semester’s roster of ten classes is “pretty much our traditional spring semester,” she said. Nearly all of the classes are full, many beyond the normal limit.

Offering an Associate Degree program in dance some day has been an ongoing subject of conversation within the Physical Education Department, but with the present economy, Lappen and her colleagues are focusing on maintaining and developing the quality program they already have. Thirty-three students are enrolled in the Dance Concert class, even though the school has no working venue to host its own performances.

Not having a performance venue has become a call for creativity rather than a reason to cut back. Last semester Lappen choreographed a site-specific piece for the only venue available, The Environmental Horticulture Department’s Lifescape Garden. The garden is located on the edge of the coastal bluff on East Campus, directly adjacent to Chumash Preserve in the college’s public access corridor.

The piece is entitled “Visions, Dreams and Memories.”

“It’s inspired by students,” Lappen said. “The ballet is a story that started over a hundred years ago. It grows out of the history of the school.”

The original piece was turned into a film. The Center Stage Theater is a black box, making it the perfect setting for the film to play as a backdrop for this semester’s student performance.

Each of the Department’s other two instructors, Bonnie Lewis and Kay Fulton, will also choreograph a piece for the show. Student Katelyn Soliman, who auditioned for the opportunity, will also present a student choreographed and executed piece.

Because students must pay for all costumes, advertising and the venue itself, a fundraising plan is presently being developed. Student dancers will be responsible for all aspects of the fundraising.

Extracurricular dance opportunities are made available to students whenever possible. On Feb. 20, a group of students attended the Pasadena Dance Festival.

Misa Kelly offered a free Modern Dance Master Class on Feb. 27, and on March 6 students can enroll, for a discounted fee, in Rina Van de Kamp’s Aerial Dance class in Santa Ynez.

Come what may, City College will dance on.