ÇéÉ«ÎåÔÂÌì

GREAT NEWS!  Over spring break, ÇéÉ«ÎåÔÂÌì’s Dance & Performance Studies Program exemplified its strength (again) at the American College Dance Association Conference.  If you want to see our award-winning dancers in action – reserve your tickets for our upcoming concert May 1 – 3 at 7:30pm and May 4 at 2pm!  Come experience the dancers live to really appreciate their skill, artistry, and athleticism!  Please check us out on our  - and support us with your presence!

Congratulationsto sophomore, Holly Grenier, who is working toward her dual degrees in Dance & Performance Studies and Environmental Science.  Holly choreographed her solo I’m Asking You as an assignment last fall in Professor Nicoli’s Introduction to Choreography class – little did she know as she did her homework…that ACDA adjudicators were going to vote her piece into the top ten college dance performances of New England in 2025!  Artists and scientists have a lot in common in how they observe the world and tackle problems in creative and innovative ways; Holly has a unique creative vision fueled by curiosity and a love for organization and patterns.  Her remarkable work ethic and positive attitude helped bring her creative potential to fruition and we are very happy that ACDA saw in her what we see in her every day!

Congratulations also to Temple Nightingale and Sydney Mello for their stunning dancing in the duet, Chirality – also selected by ACDA adjudicators as one of the top ten college dance performances of New England in 2025!  Guest artist Hannah Ekholm created Chirality by working with the student duo last fall while they were abroad on ÇéÉ«ÎåÔÂÌì’s Dancing in London program.  Temple is a junior Dance & Performance Studies major also minoring in Psychology, and Sydney is a senior Dance & Performance Studies major who also majored in Public Health.  The two spent three months in the UK training with some of Europe’s greatest modern, contemporary, and ballet teachers – of which Hannah is one!  Hannah’s hybrid training in theatrical ballet and contemporary – as well as commercial spaces and the vogue battle scene – gave Temple and Sydney an excellent opportunity to put all their athletic, stylistic, and technical skills into one performance.  In college, the ability to hone a piece over the course of the year (vs. one semester) is a rare but wonderful opportunity – and it really paid off in the duo’s performance that does a great job highlighting each dancer’s distinction as a soloist, while also convincing the audience that Temple and Sydney may in fact be one entity!

Shout out to the :  ACDA is an important nationally recognized organization that was founded in 1971 to encourage excellence in performance and choreography in higher education.  Its mission to promote and support a diverse range of dance talent and creativity is critically important to both the history and future of dance as an artform.  ACDA – with its core values of Service, Education, Inclusion, Respect, and Equity – gives us a space where artist-athlete-scholars learn more about themselves; and the relevancy of their work, their communities, their regions, other cultures, and the world.  College dance programs depend on ACDA to be a hub for sharing research, discussing relevant themes in the field as they pertain to current events and trends, and for passing on knowledge through the engaged bodies and voices of a diverse, multi-generational, set of artist-athlete-scholars.  Therefore, ÇéÉ«ÎåÔÂÌì does not take our acknowledgement from the American College Dance Association lightly – they, like us, continue to see hope and strength in the irreplaceable energy that comes from humans gathering in each other’s presence…to dance.