Colorado College Theatre & Dance Department

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Colorado College Theatre & Dance Department

Welcome to our new majors and minors who will breathe passion and rigor into our department completing the 11-credit major or 5-credit minor. You.

Welcome to the Department of Theatre & Dance, a community of creatives challenging the boundaries of artistic expression through critical thinking and embodied creative practices at 6,035 ft, the base of Tava 'Sun' Mountain, aka Pikes Peak. Welcome to the Colorado College Theatre & Dance Department, a creative community at 6,035 ft, at the base of Tava “Sun” Mountain, aka Pikes Peak

Welcome to s

mall class sizes, rich mentorships, three annual main-stage productions, and countless opportunities to think critically and engage daily in embodied creative practices. Welcome to Rewriting America, the Art of Insurgency, Biohacking 101, the Performer Prepares, Video Dance, and Fundamentals of Performance Design and many more offerings from our six full-time faculty members

Welcome to 300 days of sunshine and 302 dance classes annually in West African Dance & Drumming, Ballet, Samba, Balinese, Contact Improvisation, Contemporary Dance, Hip Hop and Dance Fundamentals. What do we value most in our department? We value your input, your creative growth, and your desire to be part of something larger than yourself. Welcome to the Theatre and Dance department, where all are welcome.

05/17/2026

In a joyful last senior gathering, our graduating Theatre & Dance class of 2026 joined faculty and staff on the terrace of Ryze Skyline Lounge last week to enjoy drinks, dinner, and a drop-dead view of Tava-kaavi.

As they mingled and made short work of the delicious food and drinks, students and staff alike looked back fondly over four years of memories, while excitedly sharing what was next. As the light fell and the sun set behind the mountain, the seniors jumped up in unison for one final impromptu shimmy, prompted – of course – by someone shouting, “And a 5-6-7-8!”

Today, as they don their robes and head to Commencement, we want to congratulate our Class of 2026 on their momentous day.

From all of us in Theatre & Dance to all of you: m***e and break a leg. We can’t wait to see what you do next.
👏🏻🙌🏻💃🩰🎭❤️

05/15/2026

Last Friday, students from our Hip Hop, Contemporary Dance, West African Dance and Drumming, and Choreo Lab courses presented their work in a rousing Spring Showcase.

Cheered on by the lively crowd, the students presented pieces choreographed by both students and educators, sharing the culmination of their hard work and dedication.

From goosebump-giving Senegalese drum polyrhythms that had the audience clapping and stomping along, to dreamy choreography set to Connan Mockasin’s gloriously off-kilter “Forever Dolphin Love”, the showcase demonstrated that the diverse talent at CC runs deep - and leaves no crumbs. 👏🏻

____________________________
Choreo Lab | Patrizia Herminjard
Choreography by students Amy Piburn, Lilah Tuchband, and Lindsey Wolk

Hip Hop/ Hip Hop Performance | Ron Jules
Choreography by Ron Jules

Contemporary Dance | Adam Dickerson
Choreography by Adam Dickerson

West African Dance and Drumming | Dallo Fall
Choreography and Arrangement by Dallo Fall

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Students! Enjoyed what you saw and want to be a part of it next academic year? Enroll in these (and many more) Theatre & Dance courses in Banner today:

Choreo Lab DS346
Hip Hop Dance DS231
Intro to Contemporary Dance DS107
West African Dance and Drumming DS219

05/13/2026

With students ranging from varsity athletes to microbiology majors, Professor Patrizia Herminjard’s popular Body in Motion class encourages curiosity, collaboration, and the creative use of our bodies as a source of knowledge and communication.

We joined the class in Cossitt Hall Gym last week and found the students working in pairs to create unique phrases using different chairs as props. As they explored movement and composition, Patrizia looked on, encouraging improvisation while guiding them to be mindful of how each phrase might fit into the broader piece. As the students tangled, climbed, and moved in, on, and around the chairs – punctuated by bursts of laughter or applause – each phrase demonstrated how possibility thinking, openness, and a willingness to try (and sometimes fail) can be beneficial to the process.

With no experience needed to participate, the introductory Body in Motion course invites students of all disciplines to explore their movement potential, while laying a foundation for the application of dance practices as a useful tool for subsequent courses and activities – dance or otherwise.

05/11/2026

In the light-drenched North Studio in Cossitt Hall, Professor Shannon R. Davis’ Acting students spent a recent afternoon rehearsing “Say Their Names”, a play by Indigenous poet, playwright, and author Marcie Rendon.

Working for the first time with the props and text for the piece, the students, guided by verbal prompts from Professor Davis and student choreographer Ella Boyd Brocker, moved around the space in various dynamic exercises designed to explore body and spatial awareness, while encouraging the group to move in unison – a useful skill when working as a chorus.

“Say Their Name” was performed on May 5th at the National Day of Theatre Readings for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives, organized by and held at the . The National Day of Action, held annually on May 5th, shines a light on the crisis of violence facing Indigenous women and relatives, honors the lives of the missing and murdered, and brings attention to the ongoing need for advocacy, policy change, and protection.

05/06/2026

We stopped by Contemporary Dance on a grey afternoon to catch Instructor Adam Dickerson working on two new pieces of choreography with his students for their upcoming Spring Showcase on May 8th.

As Adam warmed the students up and began to run through the pieces, Cossitt Hall filled with laughter, movement - and even a few sound effects - as the students rehearsed.

Adam described the first dance, conceived in Brooklyn, as more of a “trippy somatic” piece, while the second features more modern choreography set to the music of The Jackson 5. The energy was high as Adam led his dancers through each phrase, cheering encouragement as the dancers gracefully moved across the floor.

Join us to see Adam’s students perform the two works (and much more) in the Spring Dance Showcase on May 8th at 7pm in Cossitt Hall. All are welcome!

05/04/2026

🌷🌷It’s the Spring Dance Showcase! 🌷🌷

Meet us in Cossitt Gym and support students from West African Dance & Drumming, Chore Lab, Hip Hop Performance, and Contemporary Dance as we celebrate their achievements in the last showcase of the academic year!

Featuring vibrant choreography from Dallo Fall, Adam Dickerson, Ron Jules, and Patrizia Herminjard, you’re invited to an evening of artistry, musicality, and movement.

May 8 | 7pm
Cossitt Gym

04/30/2026

In the final thesis presentation of our ‘26 seniors, Beth O’Neill and Jacks Sawyer capped off a month of exceptional student work with “Signal Received”, an experiential art, dance, photography, and film installation.

Creating three unique interactive pieces, Jacks Sawyer invited visitors to dance, create, and explore connection and communication, using Raspberry Pi programming, LiDAR motion capture, AI, and an Xbox Kinect sensor.

“Language Barrier” explored the gap between intention and understanding – inspired by the artist’s own struggles to properly articulate themself – through the distortion of language as it is translated over and over again. “Happy Accident Machine” used a circuit-bending video synthesizer, inviting visitors to twist k***s with purposely vague parameters in order to randomly generate patterns on a screen, encouraging the user to enjoy ephemeral outcomes that are never really reproducible, and created without a clear understanding of how. Finally, “Digital Dance Instructor” used LiDAR motion capture fed through an XBox Kinect sensor to track the user, with added random data inputs that made it impossible to ever quite sync. With continued use, the user discovers they exert more control over the instructor than they thought.

Beth O’Neill presented a multimedia interdisciplinary exploration that included a dance film and live performance, with a photography series. The dance film and live performance, entitled “Sensory Seeking”, sought to explore the ways stimming, unmasking, and other self-regulating techniques create a better quality of life while contributing uniquely to the arts. Choreographed, directed, partially scored, and performed by the artist, Beth shared how, “...in the quiet stillness of dancing – rocking back and forth, spinning, music loud, shaking, dancing until everything falls into place. This movement is where my world expands.” The accompanying photography series, entitled “Submerged”, captured in still life the tranquility and peace the artist describes when “completely, totally submerged.”

Congratulations to Beth and Jacks on their outstanding senior thesis presentations.👏🏻

04/29/2026

Calling all student actors, tech, and stage crew!

Mark your calendars for AUDITIONS coming in Block 1 for William Shakespeare’s ”A Midsummer Night’s Dream” – reimagined and reworked by Professor Shannon R. Davis.

The year is 2012, summer, (before the Mayan calendar ends in December), and the setting is Appalachian Athens, Ohio, at a huge music festival in the forest. It’s a moment defined by utopian longing, economic precarity, maybe the end of the world (?), and the promise of escape through art (and drugs).

Hermia is a singer navigating a music scene where her voice is both her greatest asset and her most contested resource, as competing bands vie for her to be their lead. Her refusal to sign a contract that would bind her career – and her body – to industry expectations is not a romantic whim, but an act of consent and self-determination.

This adaptation treats the chaos of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” not as harmless mischief, but as a reflection of systems that confuse desire, manipulate consent, and profit from disorientation.

At the same time, it honors the genuine joy, connection, and creative risk that festivals can hold...with drugs, cryptid fairies, sc****ly clad millennials, coal miners making terrible theatre, and local student groups putting on a talent show at the end as it asks, “What does it mean to wake up after the music stops?”

🎶💊🧚🏻🌳⛏️😵‍💫

Audition Dates: TBA Block 1
Performance Dates: TBA Block 3

04/28/2026

In our second-to-last senior thesis presentation, Theatre major Pere Jaeger displayed their hand-sewn bodice and wide, low-cut trousers alongside the process sketches, swatches, and materials that brought them to life. A project of self-expression, Pere chose to use the challenge of meticulous construction techniques and delicate, diaphenous materials to suggest a sense of “pulling” while designing and crafting the two-piece outfit to their own measurements.

Inspired by the artist’s relationship with their own body, as well as a short film and poetry created and written during a creative research seminar that explored the performance of gender, Pere sought to explore “self-expression through expressing a different self.” as well as how fashion and couture have the ability to alter the perception of the body.

Congratulations on your hard work and thesis presentation, Pere. Bravo! 👏

Stay tuned for our final senior thesis recap, coming soon: Beth O’Neill
Jacks Sawyer
Dance, Film, and Art Installations

04/25/2026

In our senior Theatre & Dance majors’ most recent thesis performance, Lillian Parson, Sammy Curry, and Brett LeVan each presented an original piece that explored the complexities of interconnectedness.

“My Hands My Home”, choreographed by Lillian Parsons, was centered on the themes of lineage, tactility, and craft, asking, “What simple movements have we inherited through our bodies?” Warm, playful, and dynamic, the collaborative piece explored how lived routines can settle into our bodies.

“What We Keep”, choregraphed by Sammy Curry, reflected the complexities of deeply bonded friendships and familial relationships, exploring connection and play, while allowing them to influence the movement quality during the process to result in a tender, gentle piece.

“giving myself words to dance around”, choreographed, written, and performed by Brett LeVan, was a nuanced parallel to the artist’s creative writing thesis, exploring the intersection of language and movement, and the process of finding safety in one’s body of work.

A huge round of applause to all three choreographers for their exceptional work. Congratulations, Lillian, Sammy, and Brett. Brava!

With only two theses remaining, be sure to mark your calendars for our final senior presentations:

April 26 | 2-4pm
Pere Jaeger
Design Installation
Cornerstone Arts Center | Room 308

April 27 | 6-8pm
Beth O’Neill
Jacks Sawyer
Dance/Film Installations
Cornerstone Arts Center | Norberg Theatre

04/22/2026

Join us for a National Day of Theatre Readings as we create allyship through the arts and raise awareness on a day of action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives.

Two staged readings of Indigenous-authored plays- Marcie Rendon’s “Say Their Names” and Jeff Barehand and Jaisey Bates’ “Never Be Afraid”- will be presented, as well as works by visiting Indigenous and Latinx artists, performed alongside Colorado College students.

With a rolling entry, all are welcome to join us at anytime on May 5th at the Fine Arts Center Taste Room between 3:30-6pm. Light bites will be served, with the performances beginning at 4pm.

May 5 | 3:30-6pm
Fine Arts Center Taste Room

About NPAN’s National Day of Theatre Readings
___________________________________________

Coordinated by the Native Performing Arts Network (NPAN), theatres and universities across the U.S. present readings and performances on May 5th to raise awareness of the statistical erasure of MMIWR. This national event honors victims and advocates for justice, while supporting and showcasing Indigenous theatre artists.

Participating Artists
______________
W. Fran Astorga
Ixtlan
R. Real Vargas Alanis
Angela Maria Hernandez
Nicki Martinez .nicky
Amber Ball
Ariella Cooley aecooley.com
Shannon R. Davis

Address

14 E Cache La Poudre Street
Colorado Springs, CO
80903

Website

https://www.coloradocollege.edu/academics/dept/theatredance

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