‘Black Valentine’ Dance Concert streaming May 14–23

The Cornell College Department of Theatre and Dance will present its spring dance concert, “Black Valentine,” online on May 14–23.

Directed and choreographed by Artist in Residence Eduard Forehand, the show will feature a variety of dance styles and music.

“The dances will be contemporary with a twist of jazz in some of them, as well as modern in others,” Forehand said. “The music ranges from classic jazz to instrumentals of more composed quirky music and a modern take on ’30s music.” 

The show is inspired by the paintings of Jack Vettriano and the song “Black Valentine” by Caro Emerald. 

“It’s about secret lovers and the frustration they feel of never being revealed,” Forehand said. “It takes place at a different time than ours and was the motivation for the whole piece. I’ve wanted to do a piece using this darker, ‘other’ subject matter for a while and this song mixed with the atmosphere of the Jack Vettriano paintings seemed to fit together to create this noir world my piece can thrive in.” 

Forehand says the creation of this show was intense with a lot of choreography work done in a short amount of time. Most rehearsals were done in person with a few students learning over Zoom. Forehand says this year has helped him reimagine how to teach dance online and think about how to better explain movements.

The link for the production will be shared on the Cornell College Theatre and Dance Facebook page or audience members can register online to receive the link. Content included may not be appropriate for children under 13.