It was described by one audience member as “jaw-dropping” when the UNI Faculty and the School of Music presented a recital of the piece “Dances” on Monday, Jan 22.

The recital was held in the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center (GBPAC) in Davis Hall from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. and was free and open to the public.

“I would like people to walk out of this performance, maybe a little bit surprised with how things are connected that they may not expect — from one art form to another or from a period of history to another,” said Cayla Bellamy, assistant professor of the UNI School of Music.

As the spring semester unfolds, UNI’s School of Music will continue to hold various performances to display the talents of their faculty and students, and some guests.

“Dances” was performed on the bassoon by Bellamy. She was accompanied by pianist Serena Hou and members of the International Dance Theatre (IDT) Dance Company.

“I really enjoy the number of students and community members — the number of people who are not performers of the school of music and getting to speak with them afterward, and hearing what their reaction is to this music,” Bellamy said.

Bellamy teaches courses in chamber music, woodwind literature and music techniques.

She is a core bassoonist and contrabassoonist with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, which performed across the United States while maintaining an active private studio.

Passionate about educating others, she has taught college freshman for the Indiana University Groups Program, and this is her fourth year performing for faculty events at UNI.

Performing eight semesters in a row, Bellamy chooses her pieces for her performances programmatically to connect pieces so that the audience will receive it well.

Bellamy spoke about her passion for Bach music and how grounding it can be for her to perform.

She chose pieces written by her undergraduate professor, a bucket list piece and ones that are personal for her.

Bellamy prepared by applying past knowledge to a new setting of similar artists — for example, the Bach piece, “Suite in C Major.”

She started learning the notes to these pieces last summer, dedicating her time to her recitals.

The rest of the night consisted of various pieces, such as “Tango” by John Steinmetz, a “Suite in C Major” and “BWV 1009” by Bach, “Elegy” and “Dance” by William Davis and “Ciranda das Sete Notas” by Heitor Villa Lobos. These were accompanied by the IDT Dance Company. 

The IDT Dance Company is a student-run based performing group sponsored by the School of Health, Physical Education and Leisure Services.

They performed multicultural and ethnic dances to accompany the music of Bellamy and Hou.

Treasure Divis, a junior chemistry and biology double major, is a member of the IDT Dance Company who took part in the performance.

“It’s a really unique opportunity for us because we do not usually get [to] perform with live music; we usually dance to prerecorded music,” Divis said. “Every time we dance to something with live music it may be a little bit different.”

Kayla Nissen, a sophomore music education major who was in attendance at Monday’s recital, described her reaction to the performance.

“This recital was really incredible; I have never seen a bassoon recital before so this was a whole new experience, and it was unbelievable,” Nissen said.

Nissen went on to describe the finale of the night’s recital.

“The last piece — Ciranda das Sete Notas — it started out with a video, and it was definitely attention-grabbing [with] how she played with Serena for a while before the dancers came in and left,” Nissen said. “And that last movement — it was jaw-dropping.”