Emory Dance Company: Meet the Choreographers

The Spring 2026 Emory Dance Company Concert on April 15-18 features new work by students Jillian Lee, Marina Dawn, faculty member Lori Teague, Arts Fellow Madelyn Sher and alumna Mia Shocket.

Read below as Maddy, Mia and Lori share more about their works and creative process.

 

Three words to describe Maddy's work: Earnest, Memory, Picture Book

My work, “Until We Forget” is an autobiographical dance theater piece composed of bedtime stories and romantic tangents, including a poignant story about my great-grandfather, Sylvester Dobrowolski. In the research that fed this project, I considered the ongoingness of my family's past, how memories solidify and transform in their retellings, the power of story, and the here and now.

Until We Forget was my MFA thesis at Smith College, and I am restaging/adapting it for EDC this year. I am so curious to find out how this piece will transform through its new inhabitants, finding new pathways and taking on layered meaning.

Three words to describe Mia's work: Groovy, Synchronized, Athletic

As an alumna, it has been an honor to incorporate the brilliant artistic voices of these twelve dancers into the restaging of my honors thesis through movement-generation exercises and structured tasks.

Inspired by the intersection of dance and neuroscience, I researched why certain music compels humans to move, exploring the dynamic relationship between movement, music, and the brain.

I hope to capture what it feels like to hear a rhythmic sound and almost involuntarily move your body to it. I want the audience to experience how the natural instinct to dance reveals itself in universal gestures like head bopping, foot tapping, hand clapping, and body swaying.

Three words to describe Lori's work: Sensitive, Amplified, Interactive

In my work, I am exploring themes of mistrust, trust, tension and resolution, power structures and fragmentation. We ask, “How does unity dissolve?”. 

I was musically led into the work by Chopin’s Nocturne No. 2 in E flat minor. I have built several core phrases and the dancers have also collaborated with me on duet and group material. I ask questions, give them prompts, and let them explore the dynamics of the material. 

After experiencing my work, I hope that audiences think about how listening, adapting, and supporting is invaluable to our existence. I hope the work reinforces the "good" people.

Thank you Maddy, Mia and Lori! Click here to purchase tickets for the EDC Spring Concert.

Emory Dance Company: Meet the Choreographers

The Spring 2026 Emory Dance Company Concert on April 15-18 features new work by students Jillian Lee, Marina Dawn, faculty member Lori Teague, Arts Fellow Madelyn Sher and alumna Mia Shocket.

Read below as Jillian and Marina share more about their works and creative process.

  

Three words to describe Jillian’s work: Attuned, Absent, Fragmented

My work explores presence as a psychological and physical phenomenon, specifically what happens when the two fall out of sync. We examine the dissonance that can arise when the body is in one place but the mind is somewhere else entirely. 

I hope to create a work that is technically rigorous yet deeply human by juxtaposing movement qualities and introducing tension between the collective and the individual. Contrasting movement qualities, like rigidity and fluidity, function in a similar way, articulating the themes of the work through the body.

My dancers bring their own voices to the piece, generating individual material and working together to find shared moments. Set improvisational scores keep the work alive, cultivating the sensitivity and awareness necessary to collaborate in real time. I regularly invite feedback and new ideas from the group, so the trajectory of work is constantly being shaped by everyone in the room.

Rather than offering answers, I want the work to open a question about presence that reaches beyond the stage and into the audience’s own lives and relationships.

Three words to describe Marina's work: Provocative, Cheeky, Empowering

Some of the concepts I'm exploring in my work include how we express our desires, feminine sexuality, and relationships.

My dancers are integral to my creative process. I bring them in for collaboration often because I want their experiences and feelings with these themes to shine through. I hope to make my dancers feel sexy and confident, I want the audience to question what they consider sexuality to be.

Thank you Jillian and Marina! Click here to purchase tickets for the EDC Spring Concert.

Excess Incomplete: An Honors Thesis Concert by Nadia Piecyk

On March 26 & 27 at 7:30pm, dance major Nadia Piecyk will present an Honors Thesis Concert entitled Excess Incomplete. This is a free event and registration is not required. Read below to learn about Nadia's research and creative process. 

Excess Incomplete emerges from Piecyk’s research into ways of viewing disability through a queer lens and as a profoundly embodied approach to disrupting systems of normativity. Drawing from disability studies and queer theory, the work investigates how power structures create binaries of normality and deviance, and how dance might unsettle those assumptions through movement itself. 

She shares, “As an artist, I am increasingly interested in disability as fertile ground for body wisdom. I am drawn to relationships within and between bodies, moving in accordance with and against impulse and expectation, zooming in and out of the body, and exploring contrasts of effort and rest.” 

In the rehearsal process with her cast, Piecyk centers “dancer agency and voice” through improvisational scores, text, and proximity-focused movement explorations. Rather than privileging a single “correct” movement vocabulary, the work unfolds through generative practices that allow multiple interpretations to coexist. 

Reflecting on the process, Piecyk shares, “I was especially interested in treating rehearsal itself as research. What does it mean to lead rehearsal through a disability justice framework?” Inspired by concepts of “care webs,” the work positions community as an essential choreographic force. 

She hopes that audiences leave the performance with “more questions than answers,” feeling oddity, resilience, corporeality, and care, while challenging the assumption that bodies must conform to dominant norms to be worthy of attention. 

 

Thank you Nadia! Please join us on March 26 & 27 at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts for Excess Incomplete.