Two senior dance majors debuted original choreography during Columbia’s Admitted Students Day on Saturday, April 25, using the performance to explore themes of relationships, anxiety and growth.

Senior dance majors Grace Butt and Erica Jones presented choreographed pieces in the show “In a World of Becoming.” For both of them, it was their first time showing their choreography on The Dance Center’s stage.

Columbia’s Dance Center has organized several other Saturday events aligning with Admitted Students Day. Their past events have included Love of Music and Atmosphere, Spring Forward: Student Performance Night and the Break/Through Faculty & Alumni Concert. The events highlight student projects and creativity. 

Meredith Sutton, artistic director of the Dance Presenting Series at the Dance Center, organized the events. 

“It’s kind of like behind the scenes. And they get to see the beautiful creative work the students do, they get to intersect with admissions toward the building and see the artistry that’s brought forth by our students, so they get a taste of what it’s like to truly be a Columbia student, which is really cool,” Sutton said. 

This was the third Admitted Students Day that Columbia has hosted this spring, part of an ongoing series aimed at giving prospective students a fuller look at campus life, academic programs and creative opportunities. The last Admitted Students Day is next Saturday. 

Across all event dates, the college expects between 1,300 and 1,400 guests to attend.

While the performance this weekend gave prospective students a look at the program, it also gave current dance majors another venue to present original work, Sutton said.

“This is an option for students to be able to show their creative work in an alternate format outside of a traditional concert,” she said. 

Both Jones and Butt had two separate pieces that highlighted different themes of what they learned in college.

In her piece,  “In a World of Lust,” Jones explored her experience with her relationships through her college experience. She began creating the idea of her piece by writing it in her diary and has been working on it since February. 

“My message is kind of to show the audience the differentiation between love and lust, because sometimes, often in the world, we combine the two, rather than separating the two, because they’re two separate things,” she said. 

Jones’ dream is to be a choreographer. She said she was anxious for the Admitted Students Day performance, with it being her first time having her choreographed work performed on the stage.

“I would like for them to gain inspiration, not only from the piece itself, but from just the creativity of it. Know that you can go as far as you can reach,” she said. “Being an artist is very important in the world we live in today. Actually, the world needs more artists. I think that they should take this and give themselves a pat on the back as a jumpstart on their artistic careers.”

Butt’s piece in the show was entitled “Anxieties of Becoming.” She has been working on the piece since the end of her junior year and drew inspiration from the anxieties she carried when first starting her journey at Columbia.

“My piece more specifically is about college and the anxieties of what happens when you come here, and what were those first emotions when you came here, navigating all of that and having to leave from those,” she said. “That beautiful thing that you were comfortable in and having to go into this new experience that you’re still scared of and bringing those scared emotions, but have to flourish eventually.”

Butt said that getting to experience being on the producing end has been a great experience for her, and has reminded her of when she was here for Admitted Students Day four years ago allowing her to examine the message she wants to put out through her work.

“For us to put this out and be the main producers, put out flyers, do everything, it’s kind of like, whoa, we’re really becoming what we really wanted to do,” she said. “Even with the scariness that you’re feeling right now walking into this big school, I know you’re probably having a lot of thoughts. It’s gonna be okay.” 

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