Yours Truly,
Spring 2025 Senior Studio
From the captivating and energetic pulse of jazz to the emotive depth and unpredictable layers of contemporary dance, the program delves into themes such as introspection, freedom, authenticity, self-worth, and more. Yours Truly, presents a diverse array of dance work that will provide a thought-provoking evening of entertainment. Join us at the James and Nancy Gaertner Performing Arts Center, in the Montague Dance Theater, March 27th-29th at 8 p.m. as dancers take the stage for an exhilarating night of artistic creation.
Program Includes:
The Architects
Choreographer Jasmine Herrera presents The Architects, a personal and introspective dance work that offers a glimpse into the mind of a thinker who feels deeply yet navigates life with strategy and precision. Drawing from personal experience, the piece explores the deliberate and often solitary process of confronting emotions, analyzing them, and making decisions that shape the future.
Dancers navigate a landscape of structured formations and intricate pathways, embodying the inner workings of a visionary thinker and yet, beneath the surface, emotion pushes, tugs, and demands to be acknowledged. The choreography unfolds like a thought process in motion, fluid yet methodical, expressive yet restrained, capturing the push and pull between instinct and intellect.
Set against a sweeping orchestral soundscape that builds tension and release, the work brings audiences into the intimate, unseen moments of self-reflection, emotional recalibration, and decisive action. Rather than surrendering to chaos, the movement reveals the beauty of internal logic, a dance of control, release, and transformation. "The Architects" is more than a performance; it is a testament to the strength found inintrospection and the power of embracing emotions on one’s own terms.
C’est La Vie
C’est La Vie, choreographed by Lizzie Zaffuto, is a lively body of work intended to portray the playful, as well as the emotional aspects of life of a young woman in her twenties. Throughout the piece, solos, ensemble, and partner work is incorporated as a means of representing a sense of community as well as self-expression and exploration. Set to a collection of three jazz compositions, the dance features eight dancers exploring the beauty and anxieties of life through movement. Zaffuto hopes for the piece to resonate with audiences and leave viewers with a newfound excitement for life.
Wild Silk
Wild Silk, choreographed by Emma Grace Holtham, embodies the aching spirits of the contained and suffocated women in the world who are molded to appear “clean” and “complacent” to abide by the rules of being a “good” woman. Throughout history, women have been denied rights in many systems, including laws that restricted their property ownership, economic participation, and bodily autonomy. We can never fully be free, can we? We have soft hands that hold the weight of anguish that would make a man ache enough to kill, and yet the system shrieks the moment a woman breaks away from the false narrative of conformity as if it’s a morbid crime against humanity. 11 dancers and my grandmother’s voice fill the stage with the all too familiar feeling of shame, discomfort, and rage due to injustice. Throughout the piece they break away from the man-made mold of perfection and run towards freedom.
Acceptance & Detachment
Acceptance & Detachment, an energetic new work by Gabrielle Jackson explores bravery, self-perception, and how it feels letting go of external validation. Set to Kanye West’s 808s Heartbreak tracks “Love Lockdown” and “Paranoid,” the piece blends robotic precision with athletic, groovy movement that will make you want to dance with her talented cast of eight. The lighting shifts from dark red tones to warm, raised exposure, reinforcing its themes of transformation. A raw, early-2000s take on the athleisure aesthetic completes the visual identity. Rooted in her intuition, spontaneity, and a sense of fearlessness, Acceptance & Detachment is an expansive yet intimate journey into growth and separation from ego.
Perception
The human mind is inherently structured to seek patterns, to discover the thread that ties everything together. In the world of dance, this often manifests as an audience member attempting to find meaning or a story within the movement in an effort to understand the non-verbal language. Perception, choreographed by Jordan Dozier in collaboration with dancers, is a work designed to investigate this very idea.
Choreographed through the inspiration of movement that works through muscular effort, momentum, and the transformation of a space; Perception is presented as not a traditional narrative but rather an abstract study. The work begins with a performer positioned closest to the audience, engrossed in reading a book, while the remaining performers start with silence, enveloped in a hug. Soon after with the start of the music, performers dance in and out of the wings, filling the space, and pulling audience attention while a single performer remains engrossed in their own world of a book.
With no clear narrative, but presented as if one was developed, Perception invites the audience to reflect on their own interpretations. How far will one work to find meaning to a work built on the very nature of movement itself.
Unspoken Connection
“Do you have twin telepathy, can y’all read each other’s minds?” is a phrase that twin’s get asked all the time. But are they the same person that share the same thoughts and emotions? Madison Canales’s new work, Unspoken Connection, creates an abstract take on her experience of being a twin. Creating a world of controlled chaos, 9 dancers embody movement inspired by twin’s feelings, similarities, DNA, and most importantly their differences. Dancing apart, dancing together, duets and solos take place to create a world inspired by this natural occurrence.
Pivot
How does time dictate our need for change? Dillon Bell’s Pivot hones authenticity andhonesty through the lens of unexpected instrumental composition and raw untappedemotion. With his seven dancers creating a bold and unique world, viewers are takenthrough a crossfade into what it feels like to be ever changing.
Love Me First
Love Me First, choreographed by Angie Valeria Amaro, is a dynamic and captivating sassy jazz piece set to Adele’s “Rumor Has It", and Lady Gaga’s “Telephone”. Featuring a talented cast of ten, the piece seamlessly blends sultry, Fosse-inspired movement with high-energy, hard-hitting choreography. At its core, Love Me First is a powerful statement on self-worth, confidence, and reclaiming one’s strength after leaving a toxic relationship. Angie hopes the audience not only feels entertained but, more importantly, empowered by the message of self-love and resilience.
Something Greater
In McKinzee Horrocks’ new work, Something Greater, 8 dancers explore a journey leading to a place of transformation, redemption, and hope. This dance is an invitation to live for something more than yourself. It’s the prophecy of my life, knowing God always has a greater plan, far more than I could ever imagine.
Familiar Sunsets
Familiar Sunsets choreographed by Hayley Grimes, is partially inspired by past American events, building a multifaceted and authentic world. To what extent is society trapped in a perpetual cycle of self-destruction, and how do historical patterns of corruption and influence shape our present and future?
Dysfunction of the Mind
Please join us for Dysfunction of the Mind, by Mazie Zost, an explorative dance that will take you through the struggles of mental health and how it can affect how one views themself. This work is deeply inspired by the unrealistic body standards imposed on today’s generation, and the toll they take on one's self-image. Throughout this choreographic piece, you will be drawn into the mind of someone who struggles with body dysmorphia. Don’t miss the opportunity to dive into this emotional piece where the dancers fight to free themselves from self-hate, grasping to find hope.
DETAILS:
Yours Truly,
James and Nancy Gaertner Performing Arts Center
Montague Dance Theater
815 17th Street
Huntsville TX
March 27th-29th @ 8 p.m.
Tickets: Visit shsu.universitytickets.com or call 936-294-2339 for more information.
$5 student admissions and $12 general admissions if purchased one week in advance, $15 for all admissions week of show to purchase at box office.
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