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Spectacular Spectacular! No, it’s not a circus…it is the title of this year’s MFA dance concert series, which features three live pieces in the annual Studiodance I concert, one dance for the camera and an evening-length work that will be performed in Chicago this April.

Studiodance I highlights graduating MFA candidates Hope Goldman, Young-Sun Lee and Kate Insolia through a combination of group pieces and solos.

For Goldman’s trio entitled “Truth and Beauty Bombs,” she chose three dancers who were close friends in hopes that there would be comfortableness in rehearsal that she would not have to work to establish. At the beginning of every rehearsal, Goldman asked her dancers to complete short writing assignments and to share their answers/reflections with the group. This process allowed the dancers to be vulnerable with one another and created a sense of trust; it also allowed the dancers to create movement from a very honest place, Goldman said.

“[Journaling and sharing with one another] gets us more connected before we start making material or running the piece,” said junior dance major Wedee Kao of his experience in Goldman’s rehearsal.

Kao said that he loves working with his close friends in rehearsal and that the whole piece is fun, in his opinion.

“[Myself and the other dancers] love the movement that we do – to us it is ‘feel good’ movement – so it makes rehearsal that much more enjoyable,” he continued.

Goldman will perform a solo, “Form Constant,” in addition to presenting her group piece. The solo is a collaborative effort between Goldman and her partner Andrew Moffat, a visual artist and computer programmer; Moffat created real-time interactive effects with which Goldman interacts. The completion of choreography and sound design did not synch up perfectly, which left Goldman rehearsing to imaginary sounds for much of her creative process.

MFA Candidate Young-Sun Lee has been working with a wide range of ideas in her creative process, including intuition, playful tinkering with ideas and with her body, observation of daily life, insight, curiosity, childhood memories, solitary practice and life at school. Lee’s group piece, “Wallpaper” was inspired by her childhood memory of playing with patterns on the wallpaper in bed.

“In Lee’s sleepy imagination,” the press release states, “the patterns came alive, moving all around the room along with the stories she created.”

In her self-titled solo, “Young-Sun Lee,” Lee performs movement abstracted from the properties of her own identity, considered as an inseparable medium from her role as choreographer.

Insolia’s work, “Mat Press,” “is just another f—king piece that is supposed to move you,” she said in the concert press release.

Based on Insolia’s experiences with racism, oppression and the most basic elements of human interaction, “Mat Press’ has the potential to make a long-lasting impact on its audience.

“This piece will cause the human species to rise together and truly end all suffering once and for all…it will allow people to open their hearts a bit and cry,” Insolia said.

After some reflection, she added, “It will possibly be a racist mess.”