The Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Dance at Princeton University presents Liminality, an evening of two distinctive dance works by Princeton seniors Michael Garcia and Camryn Stafford. These pieces explore the critical point between multiple states and sensory thresholds, internalized and externalized processing, and the process of understanding over time. Performances are April 13, 14 and 15 at 8:30 p.m. in the Hearst Dance Theater in the Lewis Arts complex on the Princeton campus. The Hearst Dance Theater is an accessible venue with wheelchair and companion seating in the front row. The April 13 performance will be open-captioned. An assistive listening system is available. Guests in need of other access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at least one week in advance at LewisCenter@princeton.edu.
The cast of Camryn Stafford’s new work “There She Is,” to be performed on April 13-15. Photo credit: Kirsten Pardo ’24
“There She Is,” choreographed by Stafford, depicts the embodiment of Black women’s hypervisibility and simultaneous invisibility within society. Using a juxtaposition of 1960s pageant audio and student interviews, the piece oscillates between experiencing the hypervisibility of Black women and learning more about the truth that often remains invisible. “There She Is” asks the audience to question how they may have stereotyped, objectified, and tokenized Black women in the past, finding both familiarity and disgust with the stories and scene. The piece also asks the audience to question what they know, what they think they know, what they thought they knew before watching, and why they may think in the ways they do, while encouraging them to question the meanings we place on Black women. The cast includes juniors Ive Jones and Storm Stokes and sophomore Azi Jones.
The cast of Michael Garcia’s new work “Acero,” to be performed on April 13-15. Photo credit: Kirsten Pardo ’24
“Acero,” choreographed by Garcia, explores the stress response in the body. Medically, the stress response is broken into three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. This work follows a parallel structure, with each act distinct in style, musicality, and costuming. “Acero” translates to “steel” in Spanish, an homage to the work’s Spanish music and to the notion that strength is forged during periods of intense change. Taking place over the course of both one night and one year, the piece implicates audience members as witnesses and conspirators in the dancers’ experiences – and in their individual and collective, internal and external, and physical and emotional processing. The cast includes Garcia, along with fellow seniors Sara Schwartz and Soojin Robinson, juniors Gigi Schadrack, Haley Baird, Katherine Brubaker, and Vivian Li, and sophomores Adam Davis, Carly Mraz, and Tierra Lewis.
Garcia, who is from Charlotte, North Carolina, is majoring in computer science and pursing certificates in statistics and machine learning and dance. On campus, he has danced and choreographed with diSiac Dance Company, served as diSiac’s publicity, design, costume, and gear chair, built and maintained diSiac’s website, served as secretary on Princeton’s Performing Arts Council, and worked as a teaching assistant in the Department of Computer Science. Within the Program in Dance, he has danced in the works of Omari Wiles, Zvi Gotheiner, and Kyle Marshall. Recently, he danced in American Repertory Ballet’s production of Giselle, where he trained under Artistic Director Ethan Stiefel. Garcia has been the recipient of Lewis Center summer funding, through which he has completed hip-hop, jazz funk, and other commercial training in Los Angeles and New York, which he credits as artistic and personal inspiration for “Acero.” After graduating in fall 2023, Garcia plans to pursue dance and software engineering.
Stafford’s new dance work, created in pursuit of a certificate in dance, is an extension of her senior thesis in the Department of African American Studies in which she is also researching the hypervisibility and invisibility paradox of African American women in society, using a mix of student interviews and media to provide examples and testimony. She is also pursuing a certificate in entrepreneurship. Within the Program in Dance, Stafford has worked on dance projects with Netta Yerushalmy, Christopher Ralph, Peter Chu, Francesca Harper, Samantha Speis/Urban Bush Women, and Ronald K. Brown. On campus, she is a dancer and choreographer with diSiac Dance Company, having also served as artistic director and publicity chair, a dancer and choreographer with Princeton University Ballet, and a dancer with Black Arts Company. A native of Dallas, Texas, Stafford credits the beginning of her dance education to Dallas Black Dance Academy and Booker T. Washington HSPVA and summer dance programs, including the Gibney Professional Summer Program, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, the Joffrey Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and Debbie Allen Dance Academy. Stafford is the founder and executive director of Turning Tables Inc., a nonprofit organization that strives to increase diversity in dance and challenge society’s perspective on discriminatory practices in dance. She has choreographed multiple evening-length pieces for Turning Tables to inform the audience about issues of underrepresentation, implicit bias, and unfair standards in the dance world. She has been granted funding from the Lewis Center of the Arts through the Peter B. Lewis Fund, the Mellor Fund, and the Mallach Fund, which has allowed her to continue her dance training and develop her choreographic voice. Upon graduating, Stafford plans to dance professionally.
Garcia and Stafford are being advised by Professor of the Practice and Acting Director of the Program in Dance Rebecca Lazier with lighting by theater faculty member Tess James, music direction by Vince di Mura, and stage management by Mary-Susan Gregson.
The Program in Dance, now in its 52nd year, and has grown to include five full-time and nine adjunct faculty and offers 23 different courses serving more than 400 students each year and a curriculum that includes introductory courses, courses suited for dancers at the pre-professional level, as well as courses in dance studies and interdisciplinary contemporary practices. Seniors earning a certificate in dance undertake a course of study and performance, co-curricular classes, technical hours, and an independent project such as choreographing a new work, performing a new or repertory work by a professional guest choreographer or faculty member, or a work of dance scholarship.
Visit the Lewis Center website to learn more about the Program in Dance and the more than 100 performances, exhibitions, readings, screenings, concerts and lectures presented each year by the Lewis Center for the Arts.
