Tethering Groove, the Mount Holyoke dance department’s senior performance, showcases pieces choreographed by five students and featuring dancers of many backgrounds, even including dancers from other schools. The two-night dance performance garnered an audience from across the Five College Consortium as well — with students from Smith, Mount Holyoke, and UMass in attendance.
There were five pieces exploring themes from intimacy and liberation to cultural expression and the Black diaspora. They utilized the space onstage at the Kendall Sports and Dance Complex — tying ropes to the curtains, dancing on the stairs next to the audience and manipulating the lighting with their body parts for an immersive, theatrical experience.
The electrifying performances invited people to clap along. There was a vibrant crowd energy as people shouted during the pieces to engage with their peers’ performances and each piece ended with a standing ovation and cheering echoing throughout the auditorium.
Di’Anna Bonomolo ’24 is a Smith student who was scouted to perform in a piece entitled “Selebre Pouvwa,” choreographed by Mount Holyoke student Kayla Samuel ’23. Samuel reached out to Di’Anna last fall to be a part of this showcase. She said that they “originally met after being part of an intermediate repertory project called ‘Batty Moves’ with the notable Five College guest company Urban Bush Women.”
“After our amazing time performing together and becoming good friends, I was more than excited to be part of her Senior Thesis Project. I really loved the movement and the Caribbean focused nature of the piece that was driven by the music,” said Di’Anna.
Di’Anna had been rehearsing for this piece since September. “It felt so rewarding to be able to perform after months of practice. The process itself was so enriching as it is rare to have an all Black cast in such a predominately white space. Music is also an imperative aspect of the Black diaspora and what I have been thinking a lot about lately is this idea of decentralizing modern dance which typically focuses around this idea of not necessarily prioritizing music,” she said.
Sophie Collet ’24, another Smith student, was in attendance to support Di’Anna. She said, “something that stood out to me was the audience participation. I loved the energy it added and I loved that some of the dances broke the stage boundary. It made it feel so exciting and almost unsettling at times.”
Di’Anna shared insights about her experiences as a Black dancer and how connecting with this dance community has allowed her to express these struggles and liberate herself through movement and celebration.
She said, “I have had some troubles navigating my Black identity as a dance major while also being at Smith. It is difficult to have limited access to spaces where you feel like who you are can fit in. A lot of the time performing with this group of dancers, I felt like I could finally just exist. We wanted to convey this idea that trauma can manifest in different ways and Black individuals can utilize that trauma to create art and community.”
Collet said that these dances “demonstrated extreme diligence and creativity” and expressed she would definitely explore attending more Five College dance showcases.
On working with Samuel as a choreographer, Di’Anna said, “Kayla [Samuel] is just amazing. She was able to give us a safe haven — a place for all her dancers to be themselves and celebrate their culture. It was so much fun to be able to contribute some of our own choreographic ideas into her piece.”
“Kayla [Samuel] also created spaces for us to talk about some heavier topics and those topics bonded us. They brought us together in ways that are going to make me miss working with our lovely group.”
When asked about her future pursuits, Di’Anna said she would be taking a break for the rest of the semester, but seemed optimistic about the fall. She said, “We’ll see what happens next semester. I am looking forward to performing with choreographer, performer and professor Shakia Barron whose work is rooted in the Black diaspora, where she focuses on Funk styles, hip hop, house and other forms. Other than that, I hope to perform at different events with Smoovez, a hip hop club at Smith!”
