Dancer sprints through schedule

“I’m truly blessed to be going to all these different places,” said Nevada, who is studying for a master’s degree in dance at UNM.

	If you go WHAT: “ArtFacts” WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22 and Saturday, Feb. 23 and 2 p.m. Feb. 24. Repeats March 1-3 WHERE: Rodey Theatre, UNM Center for the Arts HOW MUCH: $15 general public, $10 faculty and seniors, $8 students and UNM staff in advance at ticket offices in the UNM Bookstore and the Pit, at area Albertsons supermarkets, by visiting www.unmtickets.com, by calling 925-5858 or at the door

Here’s what she’s doing:

♦ Nevada is one of nine dancers in Robert Battle’s “Battleworks Etude.”

“It’s only three-and-a-half minutes but it feels like you’ve been sprinting for all those three-and-a-half minutes. It’s absolutely exhilarating,” she said.

Battle is the artistic director of the famous Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. Nevada was one of four of the dancers who learned the piece from one of Battle’s dancers in New York City and got feedback from him.

The piece, she said, contain excerpts of movement motifs of Battle’s choreography that are compressed in this etude, or study.

♦ In “Frost,” set to Donna Jewell’s choreography, Nevada is doing an improvised solo, which is followed by an improvised duet danced by Kelsey Paschich and Avalon Jay.

“It was originally done last fall with a choir that sang poems of Robert Frost,” Nevada said.

♦ She’s in is “NLN” by Vladimir Conde Reche, the interim head of the UNM Dance Program while Jewell is on sabbatical.

Nevada is one of 12 dancers in this work but she’s only doing a solo. “It’s a lot of pressure considering it’s a large group piece,” she said. “There’s a huge difference between the solo and the rest of the group’s work. It doesn’t have that go-go-go physical push that maybe the rest of the piece has.”

Conde Reche, who is the concert’s artistic director, said the idea behind “NLN,” which stands for “nothing like now.” He said it’s about living in the moment.

♦ And Nevada’s work as a rehearsal assistant is in Zoë Knights’ “Court Dance.” Knights was a guest artist at UNM last fall and isn’t here this semester, Nevada said, so she is filling in for Knights in her absence at rehearsals.

“It is a piece that was inspired by the game of basketball,” she said. “It doesn’t just reflect the action of a basketball game but it also reflects the players, their personalities, their gestures.

“It’s a wild piece. It’s definitely going to challenge the audience in a way they might question, ‘What exactly is going on here?’”