ALMA — Dance has been called “poetry in motion,” but the Alma College Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing program and Dance Company are putting a literal spin on that old idiom.
Students in the Alma College Dance Company performed a work titled “Patient They Grow,” set to spoken-word poetry, at its Fall Dance Concert in November. The interdisciplinary collaboration left audiences breathless, organizers said, and the boundary-pushing art-form is inspiring students and faculty to continue working together.
“Dancers at Alma are exceptional and hard-working,” said Lynn Bowman, guest choreographer and adjunct faculty member at Alma College. “This collaboration challenged them in the best way possible. I think it added depth to their artistic process and the results were beautiful. I hope to see this collaboration keep going long into the future.”
Joy Bilbey is a member of the MFA in Creative Writing program’s inaugural graduating class of 2023. She currently works as an instructor of homeschooled students in Grand Ledge, Mich., and continues collaborating with the Alma MFA program on various topics. Last fall, she was contacted by Sophfronia Scott, director of the MFA program, and asked if she had interest in trying something new.
“I was told about the Dance Company and the Fall Dance Concert, and that Lynn had already choreographed a dance. Sophfronia wanted to know if I could provide them with text that would be read along with the music while the dancers performed — something that would kind of inspire that performance,” Bilbey said.
“I’ve never been a dancer before, but the idea was still very exciting to me. I’m all about breaking down barriers between art-forms and bringing art to people who might not otherwise experience it.”
Bowman sent to Bilbey a piece of music the dancers would be performing to, and Bilbey went to work. She merged a pre-existing lesson she was teaching on the Shakespearean sonnet with this new opportunity and pitched it as a group project: Together, her students would produce a single poem that would be read aloud during the concert. It’s a unique way to write a poem, Bilbey said, but it worked out beautifully.
“It was very cohesive and structured. You would never know that it was produced by multiple authors,” Bilbey said. “The theme of the poem was women and empowerment, which fit in nicely with the other content at the concert. I sent it to Lynn and she loved it. From there, we were off.”
The dancers hit the stage to perform and the reception let everyone know they did very well. It was the first collaboration between the two programs, but Bilbey and Bowman agree, hopefully, it will not be the last.
“With dance, naturally, we use motion to tell our stories. I think this collaboration worked because it allowed our dancers to get inside their own heads in a beneficial way — and for the poets, it made them think a little viscerally and literally. It was really rewarding,” Bowman said.
