RUSH student dance concert on stage at Northwestern

Northwestern College students will present their annual dance concert, RUSH, in the DeWitt Theatre Arts Center during six performances in March. Shows are scheduled for Thursday and Friday, March 18 and 19, at 7 and 9:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 20, at 4 and 7 p.m.

This year’s RUSH will feature both live and video performances. The filmed performances will come from last year’s RUSH, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To preserve the work of the students, arrangements were made to record the final tech rehearsal.

Live performances this year will include hip-hop, lyrical, contemporary and interpretive dances. All dances are choreographed and directed by students, and all students are welcome to participate in RUSH, even those with no prior dance experience.

Becky Donahue, a member of the theatre department staff, is serving as the producer for RUSH. She produced the first RUSH dance concert in 2004 when she was a Northwestern student.

Performances of RUSH typically sell out, and that may especially be the case this year as the result of COVID-19 safety precautions. Available seating will be reduced to one-third capacity, and members of the audience will be spaced out and asked to wear masks. Dancers will wear masks if they are in close proximity to other dancers.

“I challenged the student choreographers to find creative ways to incorporate masks into their dancers’ costumes,” Donahue says.

Tickets for RUSH are $1 and may be ordered through Northwestern’s online box office at nwciowa.edu/tickets. A small credit card processing fee will be added to the ticket cost. All proceeds, minus the fee, go toward next year’s production of RUSH. Tickets will go on sale for Northwestern Theatre Patrons on Tuesday, March 9, and for the general public on Wednesday, March 10.

Regarded as one of the best Christian college theatre programs in the country, Northwestern’s features a collaborative, excellence-oriented environment committed to helping students develop their creative gifts for service in God’s kingdom. Study with Northwestern’s award-winning faculty in the outstanding facilities of DeWitt Theatre Arts Center.