Case Western Reserve University’s Department of Dance announces the 2026 production of Moments That Matter, an evening of exciting new and revisited works. The program features Mark Morris’s Words, Gary Galbraith’s Whispering Caves, Yidi Lin's Until Then, and a solo by Richard Oaxaca. Morris’s work features music performed by pianist Karin Tooley and cellist Joe Teeter, both graduates of the Cleveland Institute of Music. Teeter will also play for Oaxaca’s work.
Moments That Matter will be performed on October 30–31 and November 5–7 at 7:30 pm, and November 1 at 2:30 pm at the Karen Potter Studio Theater at Mather Dance Center, 11040 Bellflower Road, on the Case Western Reserve campus in University Circle.
Words
Mark Morris’s Words (2014), staged by Karlie Budge of the Mark Morris Dance Group and a CWRU alumna, is set to selections from Felix Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words. The work is a study of musicality, pattern, and connection, showcasing Morris’s distinctive blend of clarity and wit. Dancers move through shifting formations and partnering that highlight the score’s structure, while a curtain carried across the stage creates playful and surprising entrances and exits.
Whispering Caves
Whispering Caves is a new multimedia dance production that offers a meditative and visually immersive reflection on the timeless Hero’s Journey, exploring themes of self-discovery, inner conflict, and personal transformation.
Inspired by the classic narrative arc, Whispering Caves follows the unexpected path of a man as he confronts internal struggle and is guided by a mysterious figure through a deeply personal journey of growth. Through movement, image, and sound, the production invites audiences into a poetic world where uncertainty becomes the catalyst for change.
The stage is transformed by a large veiled, cloud-like set that evokes a mysterious and mist-filled landscape. Enhanced by 3D-like projections and a layered collage of music, the work creates an atmosphere that is both haunting and beautiful, drawing viewers into an evocative space of discovery and reflection.
Whispering Caves blends dance and multimedia design to illuminate the emotional terrain of transformation, offering an original and contemplative experience for audiences.
Until Then
Yidi Lin’s Until Then moves through an abstract terrain of struggle, a moment when the self feels submerged beneath constant demands. The dancers embody a quiet sense of waiting for release and a persistent longing for freedom, held together by threads of solidarity that hint at resurfacing.
Untitled
Faculty member Richard Oaxaca will present a new solo, with music arranged for cello and performed live by CWRU and CIM alumnus Joe Teeter (MA 2020). The dance portrays that moment when music begins to shape a dancer’s movement, and in this case the distinction between dancer and cellist begins to blur. The cello is no longer merely an instrument, and the dancer is no longer simply a body responding to it. They begin to occupy the same space, the same breath, the same impulse. For a moment, the dancer and cellist become one, and perhaps that is when this solo becomes a duet.
Ticket Information
Tickets are $15 for CWRU students with ID (there are no student discounted tickets on closing night), $20 for seniors age 60+, CWRU personnel and non-CWRU students, and $25 for general admission.
Online Ticket Purchase for Moments That Matter
Friday, October 30, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 31, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 1, 2:30 p.m.
Thursday, November 5, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, November 6, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 7, 7:30 p.m. (Closing night with a reception. No student tickets)