Hillsborough College dancers sharing their space with visiting Orange Grove Dance this week

TAMPA - Hillsborough College dancers are welcoming Orange Grove Dance, a modern dance company from Baltimore, this week. 

"We're bringing in guest artists with different backgrounds. They can experience the dance community or technique or their flavor in the regional influences, so that's really meaningful for our students to experience that before they get out of the college," Hillsborough College ballet instructor Sea Lee said. 

Dig deeper:

One of the 90-minute workshops for the students focused on improv and choreography. Much of the first third of the workshop focused on simple, free movements around the dance floor. Small prompts were slowly added. By the end of that part, the room featured an improvised circle of dancing. 

"Improv. It's one of those things where it allows you to find what's really inside you. You get to choose your own movement even though there are some prompts and ideas, and that helps fuel choreographic practices as well," Orange Grove Dance Co-Artist Director & Founder Colette Krogol said. 

Other News: A real Trooper: Abandoned dog left for dead finds new, loving home year after Hurricane Milton

Afterwards, Krogol began teaching a routine, but some sections featured artistic choices for the students. 

What they're saying:

"They definitely got me to go more full out in my dancing, be less reserved, which is a struggle that I have just because I'm always nervous," Hillsborough College sophomore Pombo Gonzalez said.  "They really got me to explore all of the regions around me and really go large instead of tucking myself in because I am scared."

Classmate Erica Holland is taking dance to add to her teaching background. Her goal is spread her knowledge with a diverse group of future dancers. 

"I love dance because it provides an interdisciplinary experience for all that participate in it," Holland said. "It's always important to have an external point of view to come in. We can take their knowledge, and we can use it to apply it not only to ourselves, but to the greater Tampa Bay community, so when the students are enriched in our community, the whole community will grow and flourish, especially in the arts."

Lee also says that these guest experiences, which the college tries to provide to students twice a semester, can also benefit the dancers down the line. 

"You just learn how to be open-minded because dance itself now, it's very diverse and we can't really define one genre from another," Lee said. "Experiencing as much as they can while in college really helps them to go out and audition for different companies and making connections even starting while they're here."

What's next:

Orange Grove Dance will be performing their show "Remnants" this Friday and Saturday evening on the Ybor City campus. Tickets are $23. 

Subscribe to FOX 13 Tampa Bay's YouTube channel