Southeastern’s spring contemporary dance season debuted with MAINSTAGE: “Life’s Greatest Gifts” in the Pottle Auditorium on Saturday. Artistic director and senior nursing student Brooke Harris staged a show that was meant to celebrate what we should be thankful for in life. 

“I started creating this concert during March of 2020 during quarantine and when you’re by yourself, you start to get in your head and get down on yourself. I was feeling isolated and to cheer myself up, I wrote down a list of things that I was grateful for. I titled the show, ‘Life’s Greatest Gifts’ because every day is a gift, even the little things we get in life,” Harris said.  

The show consisted of seven different dances. Each one was titled something that we should be thankful for, including Memories, Uniqueness, Love, Friends, Time and Family. The dance titled Friends took inspiration from Bollywood musicals for its lighthearted tone.

All of the performers’ choreography was used to represent the theme of dance, along with the music.

Junior general studies major Trinity Brown said, “Family was the last act and I feel like everyone can relate to that because everyone has a family. Big or small, everyone has someone they love and care about, so that dance was very touching.” 

The Contemporary Dance Program has experienced a number of challenges in the past few months that affected the course of this performance including COVID-19, as well as Hurricane Ida. 

Sophomore business major Elizabeth Berkel said, “COVID took a big hit on the department and then we lost our entire performance center during Hurricane Ida and that was very heartbreaking. Dancing in a new studio is something we have had to adapt to, but we realized that anything we do together is something we can overcome.” 

In these turbulent times, Life’s Greatest Gifts served as a reminder to cherish them at all costs.