Now in its third year, the student-run Musical Theatre Dance Concert has grown into a full-scale production, transforming the Dance Center into a stage for storytelling through movement.
On Thursday, Feb. 19 The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago erupted with applause as neon-colored ‘80s-teens, classically dressed waiters, and a student dressed as Jesus bowed on stage following an explosive night of dancing.
The third annual concert is a student-led event in which performers independently direct, produce, choreograph and perform numbers from musical theatre of their choice.
Directed by junior musical theatre student Jadyn Hogue, this year’s program aimed to tell a cohesive story through its choreography, showing how dance can communicate deeper narrative as well as emotion.
“We focus a lot on acting because that is a part of theatre, but it’s not always spoken about with dance,” said Hogue. “So we tried to have an element of using technique and movement, but also using storytelling in their faces and in their concepts.”
This thematic mission is presented in a unique take on the classic song from “West Side Story,” “Cool,” written by Leonard Bernstein, taking the song’s lyrics from the streets of Manhattan into the lab of an ensemble of Doctor Frankenstein-esque mad scientists.
This was a particular favorite of first-year musical theatre student Jose Morales, who looked forward to seeing how people would react to the radical reimagining of the classic show tune, partially due to the dramatic lighting they use in the scene.
“We’ve been playing with lights a lot, and it’s something that we didn’t get to really see until we’re in the space because we had our dance. Being in the Dance Center has changed everything. We’re working off of the sequence lighting, but also our own handheld lights,” he said.
In these performances, while there is dialogue and song lyrics present, the student dancers are challenged to communicate completely with their movements and facial expressions, the latter often being an overlooked but important part of conveying a story through dance.
Junior musical theatre student Riesa Kongshaug, who played the creature in the performance of “Cool,” spoke to how she overcame the challenge of portraying the classic role by always thinking of one simple word: empathy.
“My grandparents taught me empathy above all else. Any time we would read books or watch movies, we would have conversations, and they would be like, ‘imagine if that was you,’” she said. “Internalizing stories really helped me embody characters and understand them on a deep, personal level.”
Kongshaug also had the opportunity to portray Jesus in the performance of “Heaven on Their Minds” from “Jesus Christ Superstar,” still utilizing the lessons of her grandparents, as well as her religious background.
“It was very important to me that I did it in a respectful way. I, personally, am religious, so leading with love above all else,” she said.
Senior musical theatre student Callie Stein-Wayne used facial expressions in her performance as a means to sell tougher steps and to deliver less dramatic and more comedic moments, like artfully and intentionally bumping into her fellow dancers during a performance of “Easy Street” from “Annie.”
“I like to do facial expressions, like facial expressions because even if the steps don’t always happen, the face saves it,” she said.
The 2026 performance featured more than 30 dance and musical theatre students, compared to numbers closer to the teens in previous years.
Senior musical theatre student MJ Bueno decided to take advantage of this larger size in the pieces she had choreographed, including the song from “Jesus Christ Superstar” which had been performed in the first year’s concert, but only with two actors.
“I really wanted to see that as a big ensemble piece, really showing that relationship with Jesus Christ and Judas. How it happens and how it all starts,” she said.
Bueno was most excited for her rendition of “Smooth Criminal” and “Thriller” by Michael Jackson in which she used the entire cast to bring Jackson’s visions to life and to the extreme, taking a maximalist approach to the artist’s works.
“I decided to stick to the essence of Michael Jackson, but also put a little bit of who I am and my choreography in it,” she said.
More than half of the 268-seat performance space was full on the first night of the show, with 143 people in attendance.
Hogue said the turnout reflects both growing interest in the concert and momentum within the dance program.
She said she is especially proud of how the production has evolved this year — not only in scale, but in confidence and collaboration among students.
Looking ahead, Hogue said she hopes to continue building that sense of community and create a space where dancers feel supported in their craft.
“’I just want to make a community that’s safe for dancers and safe for a cast to be in. And I feel like I did that,” she said. “What better way to do that than give them that space and be the director, as well as give that space for choreographers as well? So then everyone gets to know each other and find a community in this major, because sometimes it’s hard.”
The third annual Musical Theatre Dance Concert will be holding another performance on Friday, Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago on 1306 S. Michigan Ave. Entry is free for Columbia students and open on Engage.
Copy edited by Katie Peters
