PVCC Puma Press: March 2003

	........................

	Photo by Robert Cain
	Dance instructor, Sonia Valle, at front, leads dancers for the PVCC Dance Company in a practice session in February.
	........................

Pirouette, step, step, pivot, and plie.

Thanks to the efforts of dance instructor Sonia Valle, Paradise Valley Community College has a new dance company, called PVCC Dance Company.

According to Valle, the dance company was created to give dance students the opportunity to have the experience of performance as a part of their dance training.

"I wanted to have a dance company that would represent dance students at PVCC and the PVCC dance department," Valle says.

The dance company got its start last semester, when Valle announced auditions in September, asking interested students to try out, she says. The members then trained for their end of the semester concert, which was held Dec. 13, 14 and 15 and sold out all three nights. The concert included not only the PVCC Dance Company and some of the dance classes at PVCC, but also a capoeira group, which is an Afro-Brazilian martial art form whose performances include dance, music and singing, Valle says.

This semester, auditions for the PVCC Dance company were held Jan. 31, and the first meeting was held Feb. 5, Valle says. There are eight members this semester.

What's in store for the future of the PVCC Dance Company?

"Hopefully, to keep performing and have different performance opportunities, not just here at PVCC but also in other places in Arizona and maybe outside Arizona," Valle says, "and hopefully to go into high schools as a company and provide workshops for students interested in dance."