4/23/2026 - Week 15 / Meeting 28: Performance / Final Program


DAN 720 N Embodied Movement Practices in the Performing Arts

Graduate Spring 2026 Recital / Dance Program / Frost School of Music

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S o l o s

 

1

Untitled

Performer: Junche Li 


2

 Opera Performance Experience

Yuhao Sun

 Music: Near light

 

3

“Reconciliation with Myself”

Performer: Yawen Chen

 Music:  music.mov (28.235 MB)

Background: This piece tells the story of my anxiety about performing on stage, which comes from my fear of criticism and judgment from others. However, I try to enter into a kind of “soul-to-soul dialogue” with the piano. I begin to accept the music I create—“it” gives me feedback, “it” flows through my body. Gradually, I start to accept my inner self. In the end, I no longer focus on what others say. I embrace my music, and I truly enjoy it.

 

 4

Five more minutes

Performer: Qiaochang Ren

 Music: Time – Hans Zimmer

The story is that I’ve been really tired from my huge amount of papers and assignments recently and am suffering from a lack of sleep. Every day, when my alarm goes off, all I want to do is sleep for just five more minutes.

 

5

  The Flower

Performer：Zhedong Ren

Music：Intermezzo—Cavalleria Rusticana—Mascagni

This piece is about a man who, after being hurt by his lover, believes he has moved on, only to find himself falling back into endless sorrow one day.

 

 6

A Disconnect

Performer: Yizhou Zhong

Music: 巴拉莱卡(The Rod) by Men Ni

 

 7

“Poison”

Performer: Nina Lee

 

Music: Melanie Martinez - Milk Of The Siren (Instrumental)

 

This story is about my character’s struggle between asserting her power and becoming poisoned by it. She is offered—or ordered—to drink an elixir that would allow her to become more (more powerful, more beautiful, more intelligent, more, more, more, more). Locked in a battle over what she should do and who she wants to be, she tries to decide. On the one hand, she can listen to the voice, drink the elixir, and gain everything she wants. On the other hand, she knows it will come at the cost of losing something somehow. After all, the drink is not truly an elixir but a poison. She resists, battling with herself to drink or not drink…but ultimately pressure and temptation take over. She drinks the poison. For a few moments of glory, she lives in the new power. It is exhilarating, enticing, thrilling, magnificent—and over too soon. In the end, she realizes that the poison will kill her. Her hands are empty. She fades away.

 

 8

  The Deer's Cry

Performer: Michael Colavita

 Music: Nunc Dimittis by Arvo Pärt

My piece, The Deer’s Cry, takes its title from a phrase often associated with the lorica prayer St. Patrick’s Breastplate. This prayer serves as a central source of inspiration: its text names the many places one encounters Christ in Christian tradition; at one’s right and left, before and behind, beneath, within, and in all things. For my composition, I take this text and I juxtapose it with salient questions, pleading to reconcile the promise of divine presence with the lived experience of silence in a world marked by suffering. 

 

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E n s e m b l e

 

8:30(am)

 

The idea of “8:30” reflects that this dance class takes place at 8:30 in the morning every Tuesday and Thursday. Many students often find it hard to get up so early, which leads to frequent tardiness or even absences. However, through this group assignment, we ultimately fostered a sense of unity and connection. Everyone came together to achieve the final goal of the dance class, forming a shared experience and collective accomplishment.

 

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