Movement With Meaning

According to MDC Director Shell Benjamin, the dance program is filled with “themes of cultural and personal expression, responses to recent hate crimes, and works that question the integrity of humanity.”

The company’s spring production, “Resiliency Part 2 – Dance Activism,” will have its online debut at the end of May. Students were tasked with creating dance pieces that highlighted social issues that are important to the performers. Inspired by the threat of climate change, Henry Timmer ’23 hopes that his dance will educate and help others. “I really enjoyed experimenting with different movements and how to represent real-world issues,” the MDC member said. 

For Charlotte Beck ’22, the best part about bringing fellow students’ choreography to life was “being able to collaborate with a wonderful group of people and create something beautiful especially in such a trying circumstance such as COVID.”

Benjamin promises “a breathtaking and heartfelt concert” and is proud of the resiliency of all her dancers. She is encouraging audience members “to reflect upon the state of humanity: through tangible and intangible boundaries, the marginalization of our immigrant community, LGBTQ+ people, people of color, women and refugees.”

“MDC has more than survived, it has thrived!” she said. “They were disciplined and rehearsed every day during Panther Hour, learned multiple choreographic styles, practiced choreography on their own from video recordings, created videos, helped each other, remained flexible with scheduling, kept laughter in the process and so many other positive things.”