Last night was the debut performance of Southeast Missouri State University's Department of Theatre and Dance's annual production of Spring into Dance.

Spring into Dance presented a mixture of contemporary, ballet and interpretive dance performed by about 40 different dancers. The nine different pieces featured choreography done by students as well as faculty members.

Junior dance major Chance Hill has worked on the choreography for his piece, titled "Undocumented," since January. The inspiration for his piece came from the movie "Taken."

Junior dance and corporate communication major Leshay Mathis danced in Hill's piece.

"It's a really cool piece," Mathis said. "It's very well-choreographed. He uses the staging really well, his cast really gets into their characters, so it's really good."

The five-minute piece featured two men and three women in black costumes with a red backdrop. The moves and emotion conveyed through the piece were very passionate and powerful.

Hill said his piece provides the audience with a feeling of Catharsis, a term in dramatic art which means "emotional cleansing" and describes an extreme change in emotion.

"I just want the audience to put themselves in the same state as whoever is on the stage and, like, understand how difficult it is," Hill said. "Or feel empathy for the dancers that are dancing more serious pieces, or feel happy for the people that are dancing happy pieces."

Mathis described "Undocumented" as contemporary and intense.

"The very beginning is like very hard-hitting movement, and then the second part is the same movement but it's weaker," Mathis said. "The execution of it's done a little less. It's the same movements, but what we're putting behind it is different."

Hill said that he was pleased with how his choreographed piece was performed and was all smiles as he explained how the night went.

"It was a good time," Hill said. "I'm pretty happy with it. I think it was a really, really good opening night. I can't wait for the rest of the weekend."

The various pieces of Spring into Dance illustrated topics of conformity, childhood innocence and love. From the lighting to the costumes, all the dancers and accompanying music flowed in sync and carried the audience with them.

Kim Proffer was amazed by the small orchestra that accompanied the "Double Violin Concerto" piece and, overall, enjoyed the show.

"I would say that I'm impressed that the costume designers, the lighting designers, the choreographers and the dancers all work together to interpret on one thing so well," Proffer said.

Spring into Dance will be performed at 7:30 p.m. on April 13 and 14 and 2 p.m. on April 15 in the Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall at the River Campus. Tickets may be purchased at the River Campus box office.