News
Dance Ensemble Performances (‘17-’21)
Dance Ensemble is an auditioned contemporary dance troupe made of students at Hamline University. The student company are led by faculty and student choreographers, as well as guest choreographers who dance professionally and locally in the Twin Cities. Dancers perform in two shows throughout each yearlong season. Kyrin Sturdivant was a member during 2017 through 2021 and received the Holt Award for excellence in dance choreography in 2021.
“Ensemble director Kaori Kenmotsu’s piece Note To Self [was] one of two Hamline pieces [performed] at the regional ACDA conference,” and was selected by adjudicators to be encored in their Gala performance.
Performers Mario Ochoa, Rose-Marie Athiley, Kyrin Sturdivant, and Soraya Dorvilier pictured, photos by Hamline Theatre & Dance.
“PETROLEUM presents an analogy to tackle the burden of visualizing such a broad concept [such as Climate Change]…The idea of a climate dragon comes from ‘Slaying the Climate Dragon,’ a folk tale written by Kate Marvel…A global perspective takes the audience from the legend of American businessman John D. Rockefeller, to the noble work of an environmental conservationist in the Republic of Congo.”
“Written by senior Emily ‘Remi’ Remmey and directed by Joe Allen, the short play ‘Shell of a Person’ is the story of Grace, a high school senior wrangling with depression, whose friends struggle to comprehend the issues she struggles to comprehend herself, …The cast which also included sophomores Grace Bauer, Kira Paul, Autumn Wilkie and Kyrin Sturdivant, wore all black, presumably to convey both stripped-down simplicity and the darkness of depression.”
Actors Grace Bauer, Kira Paul, Autumn Wilke, Kyrin Sturdivant and Director, Joe Allen rehearsing a scene from Shell of a Person.
“Hamline U’s Dance Bootcamp is a student org that [provides] intensive, dance courses for students who want to learn to dance… Dance Bootcamp’s President, Izabella George, mentioned that the group’s origin started in class between four friends… Junior Kyrin Sturdivant, Vice-President of Dance Bootcamp, spoke about his theatre background and how he got involved with Hamline’s dance program.
‘I started doing plays and like musical theater in high school, and then once I came here I found out that they have a dance ensemble on campus. And I auditioned and got in and kind of went forward and like being a part of it.’”
Performers Kyrin Sturdivant and Sarah Ordahl
Performers Ellie Dunn and Kyrin Sturdivant
Choreographer and Dancer Izabella George and Dancer Kyrin Sturdivant
Performers Chloe Dufault and Kyrin Sturdivant
Courtesy of Hamline University’s Theatre and Dance Dept.
Images from Hamline University’s Theatre and Dance Dept.
“Hamline’s Theatre department opened their fall musical, ‘Sweet Charity’ … after attempts to put on ‘Chicago’ and ‘Spring Awakening’ fell through due to complications with casting and performance rights. The cast and crew still put together a production that proved to be a rollicking tour de force in the short window of time they had been allotted. Despite the appearance of only two male actors in the 12 member cast, [Jackson] Cobb and first-year Kyrin Sturdivant, whose largest appearance was as the extravagant and intriguing film star, Vittorio Vidal, were willing to double, triple, and even quadruple up on roles.”
Images from Hamline University’s Theatre & Dance Department