Case Western Reserve University’s Department of Dance continues its 2024-2025 season with Emergence, a thesis concert featuring Master of Fine Arts candidates Claire Christie, Mikayla Heinrich-Wong and Zhaonian Li. Emergence features the candidates in solos, duets, trios, and ensemble works.
Claire Christie restages and performs Reverie, a solo choreographed by Mary-Elizabeth Fenn (MFA ’22). As a significant part of her thesis work, Christie explores the depth of live performance. Through its dynamic movement vocabulary and compelling staging, Reverie invites audiences into a richly physical and expressive experience, illuminating the intersection of embodiment and artistic experimentation.
Because I Care, a duet created and performed by Mikayla Heinrich-Wong and Zhaonian Li, reveals the cyclical nature of support between people. Spatial tension and partnering dynamics emphasize the weight of support—its persistence, commitment, and power. Through moments of separation, resistance, unity, solitude, and connection, the choreography reflects the evolving roles of each character, with the core of love and care for one another.
Emerging, a collaborative project that weaves together choreography by four different choreographers, will provide an opportunity for Christie, Li and Heinrich-Wong to dance together. Envisioned by department chair Karen Potter, the work is set to a percussion score and will feature solo sections for each thesis candidate that are specifically created to tap into the dancer's unique kinetic, technical and performance strengths. Choreographers include Charlaine Katsuyoshi, Yidi Lin and Richard Oaxaca, with Potter merging the solos into a culminating, converging trio.
To Whom Her Legacy Moves, an ensemble work by Claire Christie, celebrates the enduring power of female artistry, honoring the legacy, strength, and transformative impact of women in dance—past, present, and future. This piece blends historical context, drawing from the influential modern dance techniques of Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey, with contemporary kinesthetic exploration to delve into themes of empowerment, solidarity, and self-expression. Christie’s in-depth research into the foundational approaches of these trailblazing women provides the backbone for a work that merges tradition with innovation.
In the Quiet, an ensemble work choreographed by Mikayla Heinrich-Wong, arose from various philosophies/faiths that espouse that ‘in quietness and confidence, there is strength’. Full of precision and breath, the subtly tenacious movements communicate quiet strength, power and an assuredness that is unmistakably present amidst the placidity of individuals within a collective to profoundly allure and captivate. In the Quiet reveals the freedom and immense capability that results from understanding and standing firm in where one's strength and confidence lie.
Untitled, an ensemble piece choreographed by Zhaonian Li, is set to percussion music and explores the dynamic interplay between musical rhythms and movement. Using varied rhythmic patterns, the choreography fluctuates in energy and intensity, responding to the evolving music. Through moments of tension, release, contrast, and harmony, it creates a dialogue between music and motion, highlighting the intricate relationship between rhythm, energy, and movement.
Ticket Information
$15 for CWRU students with ID,
$17 for seniors age 60+, CWRU personnel and non-CWRU students,
$20 for general admission.
Online ticket sales open on February 14th via https://case.edu/artsci/dance/news-and-events/ticket-reservations.
Performances are March 27, 28, 29 at 7:30 p.m. and March 30 at 2:30 p.m. All performances are located at Mather Dance Center, 11040 Bellflower Road, on the Case Western Reserve campus in University Circle.