Boston University student dancers, under the direction of renowned modern dance choreographer Peter DiMuro, performed interpretive pieces on Saturday for more than 50 people at the Sargent Gym dance studio.

The pieces retold stories and memories about events such as parades and protests.

Dance program coordinator Micki Taylor-Pinney selected the dancers, who had to fulfill specific requirements to join.

‘They had to be able to use improvisation, attend all the rehearsals and be at a low-intermediate level,’ Taylor said.

The 15 dancers had a week to get acquainted with DiMuro before constructing the dance with only eight total hours of practice time.

‘The choreography is 98 percent them,’ DiMuro said.

Some late-comers to the performance had to sit on practice mats because there were not any chairs left, which was conducive to a casual atmosphere since the nature of DiMuro’s work is spur-of-the-moment and spontaneous, he said.

After Taylor-Pinney said, ‘I actually think it will be an hour in length, but I really don’t know,’ DiMuro strolled onto the stage nonchalantly asking if this was his cue and wondering where he left his script. He walked through the audience, and eventually made it back to the stage.

‘This stage is going to be a house,’ DiMuro said. He established the four corners of his ‘house’ by walking swiftly in a square formation.

The solo piece ‘Kitchen Corners’ mixed spoken word with minimal movements. Dimuro described and mimicked his family in the piece using many angular arm movements and incorporating some twirls and leaps at dramatic points in the story.

DiMuro often involved the audience in his pieces, trying to describe events familiar to many people.

‘Everybody knows about you and I … we both drink milk straight out of the container,’ DiMuro said pointing to someone in the audience.

DiMuro, who has been in many Boston-based dance groups and companies such as the Boston Dance Project and The Associates, said he was more of a performance dancer who liked to tell stories.

‘I think of myself as a curator of an art gallery,’ DiMuro said. ‘I rearrange pictures, refine movements.’

DiMuro included commentary on gay culture and his experience introducing his partner to his father and the conflicts he and his friends have encountered.

His second solo piece was a work in progress called ‘Gumdrops and Funny Uncles.’ This performance was almost solely spoken word as he stood at a music stand reading 15 pages directly from a binder.

Before he began his piece, DiMuro asked the audience to help him create a ‘postcard picture’ of ‘The Nutcracker.’ He said he wanted to incorporate these suggested movements because the solo often referenced his performances in the Boston Dance Company’s ‘Nutcracker.’

While his dance touched on issues such as gay rights, the HIV and AIDS crisis and teenage pregnancy, its main theme was different examples of ‘funny uncles’ in reality and pop culture, ending with himself.

The 15 BU women performed his final piece, ‘Pageants, Parades, and Protests,’ to the music of Miami-based composer Alfredo Triff.

The dance started with the women in a vertical straight line and each unfolded from the line with swooping, dramatic and angular movements.

In one section, the women lined up horizontally and slowly advanced forward as if they were zombies. They would suddenly stomp and throw their bodies forward.

The performance progressed into a section where DiMuro contributed spoken word to their movement. He told stories of the parallel lives of Joan of Arc and 1960s civil rights activist Fanny Lou Hammer.

The dancers emulated the movement of war and protest by lurching and falling forward in jagged sharp movements.

The piece ended with a parade expressed through quick marching movements and one woman jumping up and down excitedly mouthing words and extending her arms as if she had a baton.

DiMuro urged the audience to ask questions about the performances afterward.

School of Management sophomore Amber Held said the performance was the first time she participated in a modern dance.

‘It’s a whole new process, and [DiMuro] was very open from the start,’ Held said. ‘He helped us translate moves from within, and the girls got up here and worked their magic.’

College of Fine Arts senior Nick Schitzer said his first time attending a performance art exhibition was ‘inspiring’ because he is thinking about becoming involved in that field.

‘I thought Peter’s pieces were a little sentimental, but I really enjoyed the performances,’ Schitzer said.

DiMuro, a former faculty member at Boston Conservatory and Emerson College, said he is currently working on a performance project, ‘Near/Far/In/Out,’ which explores the gay community’s transition over the past 80 years.