November’s Dance Gala created opportunities for UI student dancers to perform at Hancher Auditorium with full technical and artistic support, including costume, scene, and lighting design. Crescendo: Dance Gala 2002, was the 21st Dance Gala and featured a total of 45 roles for dancers in five pieces, each choreographed by a different faculty member from the Department of Dance. At left is a scene from “Baque,” choreographed by Armando Duarte. The department chose the title, Crescendo, to reflect the growth of Dance Gala over the years from a modest production in a small space to a large-scale production on one of the nation’s major dance stages. Crescendo is also a fitting image for the growing intensity of creation, design, technical work, and rehearsal that climaxes in each season’s Dance Gala production–all accomplished in a little more than two months each autumn.