Hope College’s annual major dance concert, Dance 41, will open Friday, Feb. 27, and continue on Saturday, Feb. 28, and Thursday-Saturday, March 5-7. All performances start at 7:30 p.m. in the Knickerbocker Theatre in downtown Holland. 

Performed by Hope students, the concert will include a diverse group of works choreographed by the college’s dance faculty as well as by featured guest artists William Charles Crowley and Sharon Wong.  A total of 62 students will be featured in seven different works.

Guest artist William Charles Crowley will present “Where Future Memories Dwell,” an ensemble piece exploring the idea of entering vast open landscapes and claiming new uncharted territories.

Guest artist Sharon Wong will present a new work that focuses on social prejudices and how they move people to either ignore the prejudices that occur or to interact from a humane perspective.

Matthew Farmer will present a new contemporary dance that explores the relationship between music and wonder. The piece follows music by Italian pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi.

Crystal Frazier will present a new tap contemporary piece to the music of The Piano Guys.

Steve Iannacone will restage “Edge of a New Order: Remix,” a piece examining the plight of displaced people and the chaos of conflict.

Julie Powell will present a contemporary ballet piece that is meant to describe the idea that although all separate beings, people are all one. The piece is inspired by the music of “Reiki Healing Waves” by Parijat.

Angie Yetzke, in collaboration with visual artist Jessica Joy London, will present a new work in which London’s paintings will come to life on stage.

The lighting and set design is by Erik Alberg, and costumes are by Darlene Veenstra.

The first annual faculty-choreographed concert, “Dance I,” was held in March 1975, the same year that dance became an academic minor at Hope.  The academic program became a major in 1984, and has been accredited by the National Association of Schools of Dance since 1985.

The Department of Dance at Hope was recently honored for creativeness, selected as among the best in the nation in the new, fourth edition of the book “Creative Colleges: A Guide for Student Actors, Artists, Dancers, Musicians and Writers.”

Individual tickets are $10 for regular admission, $7 for senior citizens, and $5 for students. Tickets are available online at hope.edu/tickets as well as at the ticket office in the Events and Conferences Office located downtown in the Anderson-Werkman Financial Center (100 E. Eighth St.).  The ticket office is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be called at (616) 395-7890.

The Knickerbocker Theatre is located at 86 E. Eighth St.