By Claudia Lawry, Simmons College ’18
Seventeen students and six instructors from the COF Dance Project attended and participated in the American College Dance Association (ACDA) New England Regional Conference held February 15-18th at Boston University. Titled “Dance for Every Body: Inclusion in Dance and Performance,” the conference boasted over seventy classes, four adjudicated concerts, informal concerts, drumming circles, socials, and a final Gala performance for hundreds of dancers hailing from 36 colleges across the country. Regardless of prior dance background and choreography experience, ACDA truly had something for everybody.
Caroline McQuade, a junior at Simmons College, noted that her favorite part of ACDA was being able to move and create with others without even knowing their names. “I took a contact improvisation class, which was amazing, but it required people to connect very quickly. There was definitely that connection, even though it was uncomfortable for some people at first, and we really got to know each other in that way. I ended up exchanging phone numbers with another dancer at a school in Alaska because of this class.”
Melissa Mirza, a senior at Simmons College, had a chance to experience the concept of site-specific choreography and improvisation, which involves creating movement suited to nontraditional performance locations. The ACDA classes were held in the fitness and recreation complex at Boston University, giving ample space and opportunities in unexpected locales. One of the evening informal concerts, “Alice in Fitrec Land,” found dancers choreographing and improvising in squash courts, gymnasiums, hallways, and near a rock climbing wall.
As Mirza describes it, her site-specific class encouraged her to think about the dynamics of a space. “First we started in a room that was designed to be kid-friendly, so everything in there was small. We were asked to think about ‘What is the story here?’ as we created movement to tell that story. Later in the class, we were out by the rock climbing wall, and there were people around. Most folks around were dancers, so they didn’t really notice us, but there were people working out on treadmills. Adding people to our space changed the way we moved and interacted within it, and it gave me a lot to think about in my own choreography.”
Jack Tan, a sixth year pharmacy student at MCPHS University, said that the conference “pushed me outside of my comfort zone in many ways and over the course of four days, I grew significantly as a dancer and choreographer.” Tan took as many classes as possible, including barre, Brazilian samba, and a modern class that strongly resembled figure skating. Tan adds, “the best part was being surrounded with students from the other New England colleges who share a similar passion with me, which made it super easy to bounce new ideas around!”
Kristen Duffy Young, the director of the COF Dance Project, echoed students’ sentiments, stating that she “appreciated the strong sense of community at ACDA. Through dancing together, creating in groups, teaching and viewing each other’s work, we all became more connected by the end of the conference. I was thrilled our students had the opportunity to immerse themselves in this experience and be surrounded by such a generous group of artists, scholars and students.”
The ACDA conference was a wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime experience. Pushing personal physical and mental boundaries and connecting with dancers through movement (and deep post-concert conversations) was humbling and satisfying for those who attended. In welcoming ACDA dancers to the dance community, the adjudicators noted that these young dancers are the future of the field and society. As one adjudicator succinctly put it, “dancers are the future because, especially in these turbulent times, people are looking for ways to engage deeply with others, to build authentic and meaningful connections. Dancers have already been doing that for decades, and finally, people are paying attention.”
