DANCE LIVES IN THE BODY

The Redfern Arts Center’s Facebook page faced technical difficulties when sharing the video celebrating dance during quarantine, delaying its scheduled release for several hours.

The Department of Theater and Dance at Keene State College announced their intention to post a video entitled ‘The Dance Lives in the Body’ on Thursday, April 30. The Redfern Arts Center’s Facebook page described it as a crowd-sourced video where students, faculty, alumni, and associates of KSC submitted 20-second clips responding to the question, “How does the dance reside in you at this unique moment in human history?” Posters and a Facebook announcement advertised the video, inviting people to watch and to share their own thoughts. Viewers are not required to have a Facebook account to access the Redfern page and everything is available through it.

Announced to take place at 7:30 p.m., the video did not appear at the scheduled times, and the Redfern Arts Center made multiple posts apologizing for the delay, citing technical difficulties occurring when uploading the recording, disrupting the intended release schedule. However, the Facebook page also announced the intention to post the video as soon as possible and asked hopeful viewers to wait patiently. ‘The Dance Lives in the Body’ finally arrived around 10 p.m.

The roughly 15 minute long YouTube video shows various individuals continuing to dance despite quarantine in what ways they can, using their homes, yards, and the limited number of spaces still available to them to express themselves. An original score created for ‘The Dance Lives in the Body’ unified the multiple of clips and scenes, while the speakers who responded brought up ideas of freedom of expression, community, exploring new possibilities, enjoying the moment, and how “anything can be dance,” a theme demonstrated by responders incorporating rhythm and dance into actions like gardening, making breakfast, or simply walking around one’s home and surroundings.

The video credited Dana Clark, a KSC staff member, for the music composition and Cassandra O’Keefe, a senior student, for the editing of the footage. Cynthia McLaughlin served as director, with Chelsea Hance also assisting with production. McLaughlin could not be reached for comment.

Lonnie Hiltz can be contacted at

lhiltz@kscequinox.com