By Mandy Fang | Special to the NB Indy
For three weeks this summer, Chapman University’s Sandi Simon Center for Dance becomes home for students from around the country, all there to participate in local dance troupe’s Backhausdance’s Summer Intensive.
The program concludes July 24 at 6 p.m. in the Sandi Simon performance studio with a showcase that will feature a restaged and reimagined version of Artistic Director Jennifer Backhaus’ 2017 work, “Hive.”
The five-movement piece, danced to a score by the Kronos Quartet, loosely references the hierarchy and community found within a beehive, themes Backhaus said take on new meaning with a group of young dancers who have spent weeks learning from company members to work as one.
Now in its 22nd year (nearly as long as the 24-year-old company has existed), the Backhausdance Summer Intensive has become central to the organization’s identity. This year’s program runs July 7 through July 24 and brings together dancers ages 12 and up for daily training, mentorship and a collaborative creative process that builds toward next week’s performance.
“Our mission is to create excellent dance, but it is also to engage the community and to share our love of dance and the power of dance with as many people as possible,” said Backhaus, a resident of Newport Beach.
Education and outreach have played a defining role in Backhausdance’s mission since the company’s founding, and the intensive has grown into one of its clearest expressions of that commitment. Each summer, choreographers, current company members and Chapman University alumni return to teach.
This year, Backhausdance expanded its reach further with the launch of the Backhausdance Educators Institute, a new four-day program held alongside the intensive. The institute is aimed at dance educators rather than dancers themselves, offering teaching resources and a chance for instructors to connect with one another and build a broader community around dance education.
For Backhaus, what students take away from the intensive matters just as much as the training itself.
“They have a better understanding of themselves,” Backhaus said. “I hope they try something new, they learn something about themselves that they can take with them. That they are inspired, feel refreshed, they can take a fresh attitude back to where they dance.”
As this year’s intensive wraps up, Backhausdance is already looking toward a full slate of upcoming performances, including a show at the Barclay in the spring. The company is also approaching a significant milestone of its own: its 25th anniversary in 2027.
Tickets for “Deconstructed Hive” from 6 to 8 p.m. are $35 to $45. Sandi Simon Center for Dance is at 350 N. Cypress St. in Orange. Visit https://www.backhausdance.org/events
