Fall Dance 2024
Students and faculty from East Carolina University’s School of Theatre and Dance come together to present Fall Dance 2024, a magical and eccentric performance filled with a wide range of dance styles.
“my sanity lies at the depth of this trench” is this year’s student-choregraphed piece by ECU senior Channing Dayton.
Fall Dance 2024 is the first of two biannual concerts. This year’s performance includes choreography from Tommi Galaska, Timothy Lynch, John Dixon, Jessica Teague, Channing Dayton, Dirk Lumbard, and Sayward Grindley.
Timothy Lynch, the concert coordinator for Fall Dance, will be presenting his piece, “Becoming.” Known for his renowned work with ballet, Lynch wanted to choregraph something outside of his comfort zone. “‘Becoming’ is a blend of different styles and that’s what I was really looking for. I don’t want to be confined to just ballet. It’s all dance and I want people to explore.”
“This is my first year as a tenured faculty member and I’m so excited to support my dancers and my piece, but also to support the other faculty as well,” Lynch said.
Along with Lynch’s piece, SOTD senior Channing Dayton will be presenting her contemporary piece, “my sanity lies at the depth of this trench.” Each year, one senior from the SOTD is selected to take on the honorary role of student choreographer. This year, the honor was given to Dayton.
“‘my sanity…’ is an 11-minute contemporary piece that plays a lot more innate and follows instinctual movement of humans and creatures. It’s contemporary but grittier and stronger rather than flowy,” Dayton said about the style of her piece and how it defies the normal expectations of contemporary pieces.
Dayton said that she was inspired by dystopian messages and themes. “I really wanted to play with the idea of shedding. Reptiles shed layers of skin and I wanted to see how they relates to people and how they shed layers of their personalities. How does that play out? When you take away people’s humanity, how do they interact with each other?” she said.
Dayton’s biggest piece of advice for her 13-person cast: “I don’t want them to be versions of me on stage. There’s 13 of them and I want to see each version of themselves on stage. I want them to be embrace being vulnerable and authentic, rather than striving to be the best version of themselves.”
Graduating this December, Dayton reflects on her time with SOTD and being the student choreographer. “I really want to express how grateful I am for this whole experience, for my cast, and the SOTD and the culture they have created. This experience has really touched a part of my heart.”
Fall Dance 2024 will be performed in the McGinnis Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday.