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In its biannual showcase event, the Expressions Dance Company invited Harvard students and locals to a display of talent and hard work. For dancers who braved the stage on Nov. 8 in Lowell Lecture Hall, being unbothered, chalant, and in one’s element was the theme of the night.
For director, producer, and choreographer Amaya L. Butler ’27, the idea for this semester’s showcase — “EXpedition” — came from reflections on the college experience.
“When we were thinking about titles, it was the idea of how you change throughout college and the expedition that you’re put on, jumping all these hurdles or going through all these different changes in your life, being away from everyone you know or just doing things more in a solo setting — so I think EXpedition really entitles all of that,” Butler said.
Carly S. Gelles ’27, who serves as a member of the executive board Direx and as one of the co-captains for EXP — the company’s competitive and performance subset — echoed this sentiment.
“We’ve been really excited about a lot of the new talent that we’ve seen coming in, both in terms of new freshmen here and also other dancers who haven’t worked with Expressions before or, for me specifically, EXP,” Gelles said. “And so just kind of thinking about that and thinking about their journey, with dance and with Expressions, and kind of thinking about how these new dancers have so much potential and really just this path for them to grow.”
With “Rewind,” the first dance of Act 1, audience members were brought back to the 2010s with music ranging from Flo Rida’s “Low (feat. T-Pain)” to Usher’s “Yeah!” Choreographed by Chalisa L. Hoskins ’26, “Rewind” emphasized the freeing feeling of a night out.
Following “Rewind,” Butler’s piece “Unbothered” was a strong display of confidence by the piece’s dancers. Boasting fiery attitudes to match the unapologetic choreography, “redrum” by 21 Savage and “tv off (feat. lefty gunplay)” by Kendrick Lamar were perfect fits.
As she takes on executive board roles this year, Butler’s mentality has evolved since first joining the organization.
“When I knew I wanted to step up, it just felt like a whole ’nother world of just making people enjoy it rather than making sure that every single step is correct, because I don’t think that that’s as important as people showing off what they’ve learned and feeling confident about themselves,” Butler said.
For publicity-focused executive board member Amy G. Morrissey ’28, having fun is one of her biggest focuses when creating choreography for the company.
“I think the biggest thing, not just for me — for all of the choreographers — is that we just want it to be a fun experience for everyone. Expressions is never something that’s supposed to be stressful. It’s supposed to be a nice break from academics,” Morrissey said.
Morrissey choreographed “Long Live Rock N’ Roll,” which was the third piece featured in Act 1 of the showcase. By traveling across the entire stage, dancers brought high energy with sharp movements to each beat of the accompanying rock music. With clear precision, the hard work put into the routine did not go unnoticed, something Morrissey made sure of.
“During practices too, I really try [to] focus on the areas that the dancers feel least confident in. I think my goal as a choreographer is always to put dancers on stage feeling confident in what they’re going to perform,” Morrissey said.
Reminiscing on the early 2000s with chart-topping songs of the era like T.I.’s “Bring ’Em Out,” Alyssa M. Rubio ’28 choreographed a piece that borrowed T.I.’s title, which similarly used the entire stage to its advantage with eye-catching modern moves and palpable energy from dancers.
After a quick intermission, Act 2 brought even higher energy. Choreographed by Cruz G. Allison ’28, “The New Chalant” was chock-full of formations, sleek transitions, and larger-than-life expressiveness. Featuring fast-paced, beat-heavy songs such as Tyler, the Creator’s “BIG POE (feat. Sk8brd),” the synchronization from dancers made the performance all the more satisfying.
Harvard College students were not the only ones performing, however. “Move” was a collaboration with the Harvard Dance Crew — a group composed of graduate students — that was choreographed by Harvard Medical School students LaYow C. Yu, Jessika Baral, and Alyssa Shi and Harvard Dental student Noura Abousy. Dancers came together to perform the highly technical piece, marked by elegance at the beginning and transitioning to a looser, more upbeat pace at the end.
To conclude the show, EXP presented “ELEMENT,” which featured the entire competitive subset, making the piece the largest one of the night by number of dancers. Della B. Williams ’27 — who serves on the executive board as a choreographer liaison and co-captain of EXP — choreographed the entrancing dance alongside Gelles.
“One thing that really helps the two of us is that we plan ahead a lot. Going into this semester, we had a very good sense of what songs we were going to do, so we already started visualizing ‘This makes sense here, we should do this type of movement here,’” Williams said.
With color-coordinated outfits, unmistakable skill, and a collective pulse that rippled throughout the course of the performance, EXP gave audience members a memorable experience. Prior to the showcase, Williams shared a heartfelt sentiment on what she wanted audiences to take away from the performances.
“I hope that they recognize the love and passion that is on this stage,” Williams said. “I feel like Expressions, because it’s such a welcoming community and because any level of dancer is welcome, it’s really just about the love of dance, and you’re on that stage because you love to dance and you want to share that with people. I think that’s really palpable, and I hope that the audience is able to feel that.”
For Butler, Gelles, Morrissey, Williams, and the rest of the Expressions members, the biannual showcase presents an opportunity to dive into a passion of theirs — something that was entirely evident from the spirit in Lowell Lecture Hall. Exciting and entertaining, the EXpedition was a true celebration of dance’s impact on campus.
—Staff writer Emily G. Fallas-Chacon can be reached at emily.fallas-chacon@thecrimson.com.
