“Dance House,” the first Sacramento State dance performance of the new school year, will give student choreographers and dancers a chance to showcase their skills. For some choreographers like Danielle Massaglia, junior dance and computer engineering major, this is their first time creating a dance piece at Sac State.

The Sac State Choreography Collective and Sac State Dance Alliance will be presenting “Dance House” through Monday in Solano Hall, Room 1010.

“Dance House” is choreographed and performed by Sac State students, faculty and alumni. Five students, one alumnus and two faculty members are choreographing one piece each for the performance, said Randee Paufve, assistant professor of dance.

Lorelei Bayne, assistant professor of dance, is directing the performance and is accompanied by Paufve as co-director.

There will be a total of eight dances and about 40 dancers in the performance, Paufve said.

Massaglia is choreographing a dance titled “The Journey.” The dance is an interpretation of Celtic tarot cards. Each of the five dancers in her piece represent a certain tarot card, Massaglia said. She said the piece will consist of mostly modern and contemporary dance moves.

“I recently added a couple hip-hop moves to it,” she said.

Massaglia said her inspiration for the piece came when she went to the Nevada County Psychic Fair with her mom on March 18.

This is her first time choreographing at Sac State, but she has previous experience from high school and at Sierra College in Rocklin.

Describing her creative process, Massaglia said she has to put her ideas into practice in order to see what works and what does not.

Tung Nguyen, senior business and dance major, is creating a dance with the Spanish title of “Enlace Quimico.” The basic translation of the title is chemical bonding.

“The piece is about human touch. When we touch each other there’s a chemical bond beyond just the physical touch,” he said.

Nguyen said the title also refers to the blending of Argentine tango, modern dance and ballroom dancing in the piece. It references how these different dances will blend together and become one dance. The dance will focus on partner dancing and switching, Nguyen said.

Nguyen taught ballroom dancing for approximately five years. He said he stopped ballroom dancing to pursue more contemporary dances. His inspiration for “Enlace Quimico” came from his motivation to bring ballroom dancing back into his life, he said.

“I remember I had a lot of fun doing (ballroom dancing). I’m trying to find a way to incorporate that into my dance piece,” Nguyen said.

Paufve worked with the choreographers by viewing rehearsals and giving feedback. She said she talked with choreographers about their musical choices and helped guide them through the creative process.

Paufve said choreographers sent in videos of dance ideas to her, and she would give advice about what worked and what did not.

The dance group has been working on the performance since the end of the spring 2010 semester, Nguyen said.

He also faced issues with dancers dropping out. He lost two dancers, leaving him with five for his piece. Working with dancers of different styles and skill levels is difficult, Nguyen said.

“As a student choreographer it gets kind of difficult because you are trying to tell people, who are your peers, what to do,” Nguyen said.

Although in some cases it may be hard to instruct and direct your peers, he said choreographing the dance was a good experience overall.

“(The dancers) were willing to do anything and everything I told them to,” Nguyen said.

What Massaglia most enjoyed about choreographing was her relationship with the dancers.

“They work really well with me. If I was ever frustrated, they would help me out with ideas,” she said.

Paufve said one of the most difficult aspects of dance performances is creating a strong piece of choreography and art.

“It’s tough with dance because human beings are your medium,” she said.

Instead of working with a brush and a canvas, choreographers must deal with human variables, she said.

Rather than working with a physical instrument that is always ready to play,” it’s a choreographer working with a group of human beings who all need to show up on time and be ready to dance,” Paufve said.

Both Massaglia’s and Nguyen’s set will not have any objects on the stage.

“It’s mostly the costumes and the lighting that make the piece for me. I like the audience to be able to use their imagination,” Massaglia said.

She enjoyed utilizing the one male dancer’s strength in her piece because it gave her more freedom to create, she said.

Paufve said her favorite part of the process was watching ideas evolve into dances.

“Watching the work come to fruition over the course of a couple months is really a beautiful process,” she said.

Tzahuiztil Sanchez can be reached at [email protected]