Annual faculty concert explores love, identity, and the stories movement can tell.
By Andrea Ambriz, Executive Editor
The shuffle of sneakers and the soft tap of jazz shoes echoed through the University Theatre.
The lights dimmed, and the performers stood ready, waiting for their cue. When rehearsal began, their breathing fell into rhythm with the music. Encouraging cheers from fellow dancers in the audience echoed across the stage as the pieces they’d been refining for weeks finally started to take shape.
This is a rehearsal for “Dreams and Diversity,” the annual faculty dance concert presented by the Theatre and Dance Department, co-directed by professor Cihtli Ocampo and faculty lecturer Chelsea Asman. The nine-piece performance showcases an eclectic mix of choreography that explores what it means to move, dream, and exist together.
“If you don’t dream, in my opinion, I don’t know how you move forward through life. Without diversity, we die,” said Ocampo, who performed as a principal dancer with the LA Opera this past spring. “Both of them are terms of survival for me.”
Ocampo told The Bulletin her concert piece draws inspiration from fleeting daydreams and the quiet fantasies that unfold in everyday life. Blending modern, lyrical, and social dance forms, it explores how imagination transforms ordinary moments into stories of connection.
“My piece is about the dreams that we have when we see a stranger—maybe waiting for a bus, or waiting on the subway platform, or walking down the street,” Ocampo explained. “You suddenly have created an entire fantasy in your mind about what your life would be like with that person. That dream of love, of what could possibly be, and then the second half is more the reality of it.”
Five dancers move around a simple bench and lamppost, turning an ordinary street scene into a space for emotional storytelling. Despite the piece’s complexity, Ocampo said it came together in just two weeks.
“All five of my dancers have been at every single rehearsal. They’ve [shown] up on time and they give it their all. That’s just what they do naturally,” Ocampo said. “That helps a lot, because I find myself spending my time creating, not trying to pull a performance out of somebody.”
The concert also offers a more playful look at identity through “Underneath It All,” a piece by department chair and veteran choreographer Doris Ressl. Her work invites dancers to strip away perceived standards—literally.
During the performance, each dancer unveils a costume of their own creation, transforming into a version of themselves that ranges from whimsical to powerful. One dancer embodies a goldfish, while another becomes a Bratz doll, the fashion toy popular in the early 2000s.
“There’s some sections of improvisation where the dancers reveal who they really are,” Ressl said. “And so, they were given opportunity to create their own improvisation and moves to represent who they are, because they reveal themselves in different costumes in different ways.”
Jenny Truong, a senior dance student and performer, told The Bulletin that Ressl’s piece reminded her how identity is something we often have to rediscover.
“We’re wearing these really big, giant black suits that cover up our costume. It kind of just shows that we are very blended into each other, very muted, like one society,” Truong said. “Everyone’s the same and it just pulls out the uniqueness out of you.”
Ressl said the process was deeply collaborative. Many of the dancers’ own ideas and movements made their way into the final piece.
“They contributed certain things they would do,” Ressl said. “It’s like, ‘oh, let’s keep that.’ So I used a lot of input from the dancers.”
Truong added the choreographers and artistic directors created an environment where students could grow and work professionally.
“The way they do things and execute is very professional,” Truong said. “I’ve always liked how they prepare us if we were to work with other companies.”
Kenneth Walker, a faculty lecturer and choreographer, believes in the organic progression of movement. His piece came together in just six or seven rehearsals—less time than he would have liked, he said—but that challenge ultimately shaped the choreography.
“Necessity was the mother of invention,” Walker said. “It was that the actual timeline was the driving force in getting this dance across.”
Walker said he prefers to create from the “micro level,” focusing on music, rhythm, and emotion rather than a grand concept.
“Great art is made on a granular level, working on detail and emotion,” Walker explained. “Just nine times out of 10, the dance will tell you what it’s about, as opposed to you trying to will yourself onto the dance.”
Walker continued that dance and dreaming are universal experiences, expressions that transcend language and culture. “Dreaming and movement are things that unite us across culture and around the world, and we can embrace those commonalities instead of pointing out our differences.”
Among the concert’s standout works is a student-choreographed piece by senior Chamya Smith, which explores themes of strength, struggle, and the Black experience. Originally created as a class project, the work was later selected by Ressl for inclusion in the faculty concert and the American College Dance Association showcase.
Smith arrived at CSUDH on a soccer scholarship but transitioned to dance. She told The Bulletin that she was grateful to be the featured student performer on a faculty production.
“I feel like with this concert, it opened my eyes because I’ve never choreographed for a big concert like this before in my life,” Smith said. “At first I was on the student side of it, where I’m just learning from a professor, and now I’m on the choreographer side and the student.”
From Ocampo’s lyrical exploration of love to Ressl’s celebration of individuality and Walker’s precise craftsmanship, “Dreams and Diversity” offers audiences an evening of creativity and connection. The concert runs Nov. 5–7 at the University Theatre.
“It’s so easy for us to get lost in our screens,” Ocampo said. “Just that communal experience of all of us witnessing something live at one moment in time that can never be recreated the same way ever again. It just helps us understand each other’s humanity and helps us come together and see our similarities.”