Kate Doherty

I can’t say that I have ever been an avid patron of the arts. I have seen high school plays, a few concerts, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, but other than that, my attendance at performances has been scarce. On October 21, 2016, this changed. At Stockton each year, a dance company does a residency at the school. This year’s company was Lehrer Dance, a company from Buffalo, New York. At the end of their residency, my Writing from Experience class got the opportunity to work with the company. After interacting with them and hearing how passionate the dancers and choreographer were, I knew I had to go see them perform live in the Performing Arts Center. All performances at the PAC are funded by outside businesses and sponsors like the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation for example. This gives students the opportunity to see such worth-while performances at a very discounted price.

I bought my ticket alone so entering the theater, I was a little intimidated not sitting with people I knew. However, as strange as it sounds, I was so glad that I was sitting by myself. I could wholeheartedly pay attention and appreciate the performance. The company performed a sequence of modern style pieces and I was enthralled during the entire show. Each dance inspired a story in me as I watched the dancers interact. During one piece performed by three of the male dancers, I could understand the symbolism. The men were competing for power, moving in front of one another to take center stage; however, by the end of the piece, they were working together instead. Their interdependence and weight sharing at the end of the piece showed that as much as they want to be the only one in control, they rely on one another for support. I teared up as this dance ended feeling so moved by their performance.

I enjoyed the entire performance so much. In the programs that were handed out, there was a list of other performances that will be happening later in the year. I plan to attend as many of them as I can. I also have decided to take a dance class this upcoming semester to break up my course load and express myself while trying something new!