In State of Emergency on Mercyhurst Campus...Erie Festival of Dance proceeds with show

       Mercyhurst Erie campus went into quite a frenzy this past weekend due to water main breaks that left students without running water.  Thursday afternoon, all classes were cancelled through the weekend and students were instructed to evacuate back home or to friend's house nearby because of sanitation and heat issue.  Luckily, our townhouse was not affected more than with low water pressure.  We never lost all water or heat.  With the Erie Festival of Dance set for the D'Angelo Performing Arts Center stage at Mercyhurst, the Erie Dance Consortium had to change the venue to McDowell Intermediate High School here in Erie.  However, this presented a lot of confusion and anxiety for the Mercyhurst students who were planning to perform in the show but were instructed by the administration to evacuate the campus.  Many students were put up in professor's home over the weekend so that they could perform in the shows.  However, SoMar Dance Works had a slight problem with their organization and dancers.  The dance we were supposed to perform called for four of us (me included).  But one dancer had already scheduled her trip home before discovering that the Erie Festival of Dance had in fact not been cancelled, but relocated.  Unfortunately, the one dancer who could not make it was the one dancer who did not have an understudy :/ So throughout the chaos, our directors made the executive decision to let us free for the weekend and they would perform and dance in our place at the show.

        As all shows go on, Erie Festival of Dance was no exception and from the reviews I have read of the performance, it was a success.  But the missed days of rehearsal because of the water problem, the Dance Department is bit nervous about the Raw Edges performances for this weekend.  Extra studio time and rehearsals will undoubtedly be scheduled for this week making "Hell Week" even more stressful.  But with the talented students performing and choreographing, it is sure to be a great show.  In fact, it will be my last show on the Mercyhurst stage because I have decided not to perform in the Spring Dept Concert.  It's very bittersweet but I'm excited to dance in front of my family and friends who are traveling to see me this weekend :)