Rae Harris
Editor-in-chief
The Theatre and Dance Department and COW Dance Company presented “Stage Door: Fall Dance Concert” from Nov. 21 to 23 in Freedlander Theatre-in-the-Round. The audience is seated on the four sides of the stage, while performers dance in the middle — the ten dances were choreographed to be viewed from all directions.
The concert opened with the piece “One Eye Open,” choreographed by Daphne Trillana ’27. Dressed in matching white button-down shirts and black unitards, the dancers strode across the floor in synchronized movement, their expressions and sharp head turns conveying the struggle between trust and suspicion. The dance was accompanied by a quote by Frank Crane: “You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you may live in torment if you don’t trust enough.”
The next piece, “Elation,” was inspired by the feeling of life at its best, according to choreographer Emma Hetkey ’26. “I wanted to showcase the feeling you get when everything is going right, and when all the pieces fall into place,” Hetkey said. The piece featured a Jazz style of dance with the costumes and lights moving through varying shades of red and black.
“Awakening the Still,” choreographed by Aliza Sosin ’25, opened with a quote by Karen Jobe: “When you slow down enough to sculpt, you discover all kinds of things you never noticed before.” The dancers wore beige outfits with green scarves meant to resemble Greco-Roman sculptures. The piece created a peaceful atmosphere, much like a walk through a garden where the statues would have been positioned.
The next piece, choreographed by Shannon Dunning ’27, brought lively energy to the stage. Called “Tempests,” it incorporated colorful costumes reminiscent of air sprites.
“The music drove a lot of my choreography, as John Powell and Jònsi’s score gave me structure, action, and emotion to work with,” Dunning said. “I found [within the music] the concept of water and air currents, which help to create the tempest … I choreographed the dance to be a joyous piece that celebrated dance, and the music led me to that feeling.”
The next dance was titled “Pyrrhic,” which — according to choreographer Larissa Cardine ’26 — means “a victory that was won at too great a cost to be worthwhile.”.
“I chose this title because there are so many times, we win with hate but then devalue ourselves in the process,” Cardine said. “I want people to just be themselves and share the love and kindness.”
The dancers wore costumes inspired by the 2021 film “Dune,” an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel by the same name, to provide a “more edgy look,” Cardine explained. “I wanted us to look … less individualistic to make the audience put themselves in our shoes.”
“In Loving Memory,” choreographed by Molly Sugar ’26, opened with the anonymous quote: “When we lose someone we love, we must learn not to live without them, but to live with the love they left behind” and portrayed a tale of grief and acceptance with an emphasis on supporting one another through the process. Dancers wore black dresses and lacy black veils draped over their faces to evoke the tone of a funeral procession. Incorporated into the choreography were a series of lifts — each performer, hoisted up by the arms of their fellow dancers, grasped at the air above them in a display of mourning.
The next piece, “Intuition,” choreographed by Alexis Neal ’26, was inspired by her own sense of intuition. “I think intuition is a feeling that really guides my life and helps me to make the best decisions for my wellbeing,” Neal said. “This piece displayed the feeling of intuition or a gut feeling as a warning sign.”
“In Your Honor,” choreographed by Greenhouse Clark ’25, sought to pay tribute to disabled individuals from generations past. Three dancers in blue, airy outfits with fabric patches supported a central dancer dressed in an entirely patchwork ensemble, meant to symbolize the pieces of the past that we carry with us.
George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” inspired the penultimate piece “Podchineniye,” according to choreographer Abigail Rahz ’25.
“The main takeaway I want the audience to have is to look at the bigger picture when it comes to authority,” Rahz said. “The characters within ‘Animal Farm’ went blindly along with Napoleon and his greedy ideals, and before they knew it, they were back where they started, under a dictatorship.” Rahz wanted to find a way to portray the feeling of the book in a way that allowed its message to apply to any country or conflict.
The final dance of the night, “The Carnations,” was inspired by a pair of skeletons buried together whose relation has been identified as possibly romantic, platonic or familial.
“I’m particularly interested in the fact that love is present in each of these relationships,” choreographer and dancer Lauren Segura ’26 said. “When you pass away your story may not be remembered down to every last detail, but it can still be known that you loved someone or that someone loved you.”
Next semester, the Theatre and Dance Department and COW Dance Company will present their annual Spring Dance Concert, under the direction of Dominic Moore-Dunson while Professor Baird is on research leave.