Dancers celebrate founder

The KU Dance Company celebrated 100 years of dancing Friday night at its spring performance at the Lied Center. The performance honored Elizabeth Sherbon, the program's founder, who has been awarded for her immense cultural and artistic contributions to the Lawrence community.

Company members spent two and a half months rehearsing and refining the performance.

"Students work normally about four hours of rehearsal per dance per week, and if you're in four or five dances, that can add up to quite a bit of rehearsal, up to about 16 hours or more, which, as a full-time student and sometimes holding down a job on top of that, takes a lot of time" said Jerel Hilding, director of dance. "

Performers such as Mandy Shriwise, who has been with the company for four years, recognize the power of dance as an engaging art form and are grateful to be able to share their talents with the community.

"Dance is a part of our community here and its a part of everyone's life," Shriwise said. "It's an art form that everyone needs to be connected with, not as an option, but it's very essential to everyone's education, and I think it just speaks a lot to our society. So it's a great performance to come to."

The performance featured several acclaimed guest performers as well as may pieces by well-known guest choreographers.