Light and Shadow Dances

Image: A dancer balances on one foot and leans back dramatically with the other foot lifted high and pointing in front of them. On the wall behind displays a series of monochromatic images portraying curvilinear light and dark forms.

Production Dates

Featuring performances by WWU dance students and faculty, Susan Haines with music by WWU Music faculty Bruce Hamilton.

Please join us for an immersive dance and music performance in the Western Gallery. Audience members can drop in at any time between 1 and 2 p.m. to walk through the performance locations in the Gallery.

The performers have created original pieces inspired by research on biocultural diversity and how forging connections to person, place, and planet can enrich our lives and foster sustainability. Dance students collaborated with Sasha Petrenko's ART 280 Time + Motion class, and Bruce Hamilton's Music Composition class.

The dance performance is held in conjunction with the Nancy Holt, Between Heaven and Earth exhibition and inspired by Holt's trans-disciplinary work that spans sculpture, astronomy, geology, and ecology.

Director of Dance Susan Haines shares the ideation for this performance: "our Dance curriculum helps students see that the arts are bigger than just a studio practice, the arts are how we contextualize what is valued in a society. Our students pursue excellence in dance training through the lens of social justice--how will we solve the issues we face as a society? How can I be part of that solution with my artistic voice? WWU Dance supports our students as "thinking artists and artistic thinkers" and how we can offer these perspectives to the field of dance. The solos and duets performed in the show are the work of the students investigating their research on biocultural diversity and sustainability with art and action steps for tangible change."

Photo credit

Dancer: Faith McMahon
Art Direction: Susan Haines
Photography: Clinton James
Featuring Nancy Holt's photographic series called “Light and Shadow Photo Drawings.”

Disability Accommodations

For disability accommodations, please contact the department presenting the event. Disability access information is available online at Parking Services, and further resources can be found by contacting Western's Disability Access Center.