“INTERMEZZO” is an in-between for retiring dance instructor Idalee Hutson-Fish

Idalee Hutson-Fish instructs her ballet students in the Whitman Dance Studio.

Idalee Hutson-Fish doesn't think of her upcoming show, INTERMEZZO, as her last. Instead, the adjunct instructor of dance, who will retire at the end of this year after more than 30 years at Whitman, considers it a performance between two chapters in her life.

“I was trying to come up with a title for the production,” she said. “I was thinking of something like, ‘One Last Dance.’ Then I talked to Raffaele about it, and he said, ‘But it isn’t your last dance. It’s in-between. It’s intermezzo.’ And we had a title.”

On the program are four distinctly different works of dance choreographed by Hutson-Fish and Raffaele Exiana. They range thematically from communing with nature andreceiving spiritual guidance to exploring a minimalist landscape of light and dark.

Despite these differences, there is one inspiration all the pieces have in common: music. The final piece on the program focuses on the joy within a serenade. According to Hutson-Fish, the choreography came naturally.

“I never preplanned the movement,” she said. “The music led me.”

Visiting Assistant Professor of Music Jeremy Mims will conduct the Whitman College Orchestra in playing Gustav Mahler’s Adagio from his Fifth Symphony for “Rising Angel,” and the Walla Walla Youth Symphony Orchestra will join them in playing Dvorak’s Serenade for the final piece.

Twenty-six student dancers are performing in the production.

“This show has such a variety of pieces, and each has something to offer that the others don’t,” said Tina Welsh ’15, who has taken two semesters of beginning ballet with Hutson-Fish.

Cambria Wethey ’13, who has been taking ballet with Hutson-Fish for three years, feels that creating meaningful choreography is one of Hutson-Fish’s greatest strengths.

“She brings personal experiences to her choreography. It can tell stories about her life and yours,” she said. “There hasn’t been a moment of this production I haven’t enjoyed.”

INTERMEZZO will take place at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 6 and Saturday, April 7 in Cordiner Hall. The performance is free and open to the public.

–Karah Kemmerly ’14