For the first time since 2020, the University of Iowa’s Department of Dance will return to the Space Place Theatre for the UI Dance Company Home Concert. With an arrangement of six different contemporary performances choreographed by guest choreographers and faculty members, the show is set to return on Feb. 23-26.

The Space Place Theatre has not seen a performance in several years for a few reasons, one of them being COVID-19-related safety concerns. Stephanie Miracle, co-director of the performance and visiting assistant professor at the UI, explained that the COVID-19 pandemic led all performances at the UI to take an online format for the health and safety of the dancers and the audience.

Miracle also explained that the Space Place Theatre went under renovations with the ventilation system, extending the time that the location was out of use.

“It took a little time for us to get back there, and we’re really excited to be back,” she said.

The performance itself consists of six pieces, one of which was choreographed by choreographer and UI Associate Professor of Practice Kristin Marrs titled Beats Per Minute. With a focus on the interaction between time and space, the music accompanying the performance consists of four metronomes that layer over each other as the piece progresses.

Marrs explained that the piece is a restaging of a piece done approximately 10 years ago. She said her curiosity about the relationship between music and movement is what drove her creative process.

“The piece is a little unusual for me compared to my typical work,” Marrs said. “I generally work very closely with music, often classical music, in my choreography. That’s usually a key source of my inspiration and motivation and scaffolding for how I build a work.”

Marrs is one of many choreographers working with UI dancers to create the performance. Miracle and her co-director Alex Bush also worked with performers who were in conversation with partners at the Iowa City Senior Center to create the piece titled Trace, Fold, Enclose.

Miracle said that while Trace, Fold, Enclose was originally meant to evoke themes of memory, that idea quickly transformed into a concept of present-day connections. The set design, audio score, and choreography all work in tandem to create a collaborative piece that reconciles the past to the present irrevocably.

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With the concept of collaboration in mind, inviting several guest choreographers gave the UI dancers ample opportunity to expand their talents as dancers. The six drastically different contemporary pieces provided variation for the performers, which Miracle explained was essential for growth.

“I see them in this very empowered, participatory place, and I also watched them bond with each other and develop a new kind of maturity through these processes,” Miracle said. “[The dancers can] really attest to that next level towards professionalism — they really made huge leaps in their understanding of what dance and performance can be.”

The UI Dance program has faced many struggles during the COVID-19 pandemic. Miracle said the limitations on performances were difficult terrain to navigate as performers but attest to the strength of the company dancers and the talent that they have.

“I’m looking forward to everything on the program,” Miracle said. “It’s a really strong program and the dancers are showcased in a lot of ways. There’s some spoken text, there’s some really beautiful, playful dancing, and some very technical dancing. So I think it’s a really well rounded, exciting program.”