Department of Dance
Upcoming Events
“Blow Up” – Work-in-Progress Dance Showing
Dance Performance Studio TheatreDance Building
Free - no tickets required
Blow Up is a site-specific project exploring immigration, uprooting, adaptation, and the pressure to succeed in a new environment. At the center of the work are inflated boats – objects that can represent movement and transition, but also aspiration, instability, protection, and the fragile illusion of success. This work-in-progress showing presents material developed during a 10-day creative process with students, using inflated boats as symbols of movement, instability, aspiration, and transformation.
“Changing Channels” – MFA Thesis Dance Concert by Lauren Blair Smith
Dance Performance Studio TheatreDance Building
Free - Tickets Required
The Department of Dance proudly presents Changing Channels, an innovative and original dance thesis concert directed and choreographed by Master of Fine Arts in Dance candidate Lauren Blair Smith. Performances will be held on September 18 and 19 at 7:30pm. Admission to the event is free. Tickets will be available at the door starting one hour prior to each show, with doors opening 30 minutes before showtime each night. Changing Channels explores the psychological and physical experience of code-switching through a dynamic blend of contemporary choreography, original music production by Singaporean producer Alif Aircho, and multimedia elements. Using the metaphor of switching television channels, this performance navigates different emotional states, societal expectations, and the complex journey of identity.
“Changing Channels” – MFA Thesis Dance Concert by Lauren Blair Smith
Dance Performance Studio TheatreDance Building
Free - Tickets Required
The Department of Dance proudly presents Changing Channels, an innovative and original dance thesis concert directed and choreographed by Master of Fine Arts in Dance candidate Lauren Blair Smith. Performances will be held on September 18 and 19 at 7:30pm. Admission to the event is free. Tickets will be available at the door starting one hour prior to each show, with doors opening 30 minutes before showtime each night. Changing Channels explores the psychological and physical experience of code-switching through a dynamic blend of contemporary choreography, original music production by Singaporean producer Alif Aircho, and multimedia elements. Using the metaphor of switching television channels, this performance navigates different emotional states, societal expectations, and the complex journey of identity.
Living Ainu Art: Community, Nature, and Intergenerational Knowledge through Song and Dance
Virtual/Zoom or In Person at Weiser Hall (10th Floor, room 1010), 500 Church St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Free - no tickets required
Guest presenter Kanako Uzawa is an Ainu multidisciplinary artist, scholar, and curator. This lecture-performance introduces Ainu culture through the living traditions of art, song, and dance. Participants will learn how Ainu art-making is rooted in community, intergenerational knowledge, and relationships with the natural world, offering a perspective that differs from conventional notions of individual artistic practice. The session concludes with an interactive performance, inviting the audience to experience Ainu culture through shared movement, music, and dialogue.
Music & Dance with a View
Perry Kasper Granoff StudioDance Building
Free - no tickets required
Enjoy LIVE collaborative performances by U-M SMTD faculty & students in an intimate setting. Join us in the Dance Building’s Perry Kasper Granoff Studio. Free parking is available. Seating is limited.
A History of Unowned Dance: Bodies in Transmission
East Hall - Room 4448, 530 Church St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Free - no tickets required
A lecture by guest artist Yasuko Yokoshi, a choreographer, dancer, and filmmaker. This lecture examines how dance is transformed through embodied transmission rather than preserved as a fixed tradition. Drawing on more than three decades of artistic practice between New York and Japan, Yokoshi reflects on how choreography, Nihon Buyo, and Noh have continually reshaped her body and artistic practice. Through performance examples and the ongoing dojojiproject, the lecture considers transformation not as the opposite of the archive, but as the very condition through which dance survives.
Music & Dance with a View
Perry Kasper Granoff StudioEarl V. Moore Building
Free - no tickets required
Enjoy LIVE collaborative performances by U-M SMTD faculty & students in an intimate setting. Join us in the Dance Building’s Perry Kasper Granoff Studio. Seating is limited.
BFA Dance Concerts
Dance Performance Studio TheatreDance Building
Free - no tickets required
Senior Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Dance majors present a joint concert of their choreography at the conclusion of their studies in the dance program. Free tickets will be available in advance of the performance.
BFA Dance Concerts
Dance Performance Studio TheatreDance Building
Free - no tickets required
Senior Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Dance majors present a joint concert of their choreography at the conclusion of their studies in the dance program. Free tickets will be available in advance of the performance.
BFA Dance Concerts
Dance Performance Studio TheatreDance Building
Free - no tickets required
Senior Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Dance majors present a joint concert of their choreography at the conclusion of their studies in the dance program. Free tickets will be available in advance of the performance.