Convocation Series

Each year, we invite a diverse lineup of visionaries and experts to engage our community through insightful conversations and impactful presentations. Additionally, student-led convocations, including Dance Convocation, and International Convocation, are important staple parts of the program.

Watch the convocations from this winter below, and read more about the inspiring Dance Convocation from this year below.

By Abby Oke ‘24 and Colette Chang ‘25

This year’s Dance Convocation was one to remember. We dove in deep to compare human nature vs. real nature and put different meanings behind each piece. Dance Convocation was split into two sections—Light and Shadow—with a transitional piece in between and an amazing senior piece to wrap it all up. When going through each dance, we all contemplated what message or themes we wanted to convey to our audience. We experimented with different colors within costumes and lighting, heard beautiful writings performed by some of Cate’s very own dancers, and even got the audience involved in one of our pieces by dancing in the aisles. We used everyone’s creativity and hard work to bring this convocation to life.

One of the greatest opportunities was given to Cate’s choreography and techniques class where students got into groups and got to choreograph a piece for the show. I was one of the choreographers and worked alongside Claire Ziebart ‘26 and choreographed a lively hip-hop piece with afrobeat influence. In Choreography class, we spent our time collaborating and creating pieces to showcase all the amazing talent we had in so many different realms of dance.

Some of the biggest elements that made our show come to life were the powerful lighting, props, and our showstopper: the falling leaves. However, none of this could’ve been possible without our amazing tech crew. Noor Harwell ‘24, George Gordon ‘24, and Maddox Tanaka ‘27 worked tirelessly in the booth, cueing music and changing lights; it was also an amazing sight when they did our dance warm-up with us from the booth! Backstage, Ian Sheshunoff ‘26 and Muhsin Abdul-Hakim ‘24 took cues from the booth and helped with curtains, fog, and even climbed a 20-foot ladder to replace the leaves after every run of the show. All the techies brought amazing energy and convo truly wouldn’t have been magical without them.

The convocation theme was created by Michael Szanyi, who led the group of more than 40 dancers with compassion and encouragement. Bethany Sutherland and Gianna Burright both played key roles in bringing the vision to life as they created powerful and emotional pieces including Beatslaya (choreographed by Sutherland) and No Choir (choreographed by Burright).

Cate Dance Company for the first time had a featured piece in the show. Created by Gianna Burright, Landslide was a blend of cannons, lifts, contemporary choreography, and mirrors, and ultimately was reflective and beautiful. Instructor Kirsten Hoj came in to help Company clean the piece.

I loved Dance Convo so much this year. The show was so different from anything I’ve ever got to be a part of and I got to try so many different genres of dance. Every single person in the group put their all into it, and despite all the bumps along the way such as our show getting delayed until Tuesday because of the storm (talk about human nature vs nature!), we produced a beautiful show that made the audience feel all the feels. I can’t wait to see what we can create next year!

As a senior looking back on my time in the Cate dance program, I can’t be anything other than grateful. I’ve danced and worked with so many amazing people and grown as a person, on and off the stage. I’m definitely going to miss this, but I trust that dance convocation next year will be just as amazing.

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