妻友社区鈥檚 School of Theatre and Dance, Wick Poetry Center and Brain Health Research Institute joined forces for an Oct. 1 dance performance that set poetry to motion.
The warmth of the late afternoon sun filled the lobby of the Integrated Sciences Building as student dancers offered their interpretation of the poem, 鈥淧ledge,鈥 a tribute to the earth, blending beauty, fragility, gratitude, resilience and celebrating nature and the potential of human creativity.
Michael Lehman, Ph.D., director of the Brain Health Research Institute, said the institute was happy to be part of the collaboration, as creativity is linked to brain health.
鈥淎s much as we study brain diseases and disorders, we also are committed to understanding how the healthy brain works,鈥 Lehman said. 鈥淔or everything that we understand about ourselves, emotions, thought, creativity, it鈥檚 all a function of the brain.鈥
Assistant Professor of Dance Ambre Emory-Maier said four of her student choreographers have been working for several months to stage the dance, based on the poem.
Each selected their own music and the poem stanzas which they chose to interpret with movement.
A key aspect of the performance, Emory-Maier told Kent State Today, was that it had to be accessible to as many people as possible, and to be performed in as many venues as possible, be it on stage, in a lobby space such as the Integrated Sciences Building, a library or even outdoors in a park.
Junior dance major Macey Przybylski of Toledo, Ohio, said she was inspired by a stanza that talked about bright light. 鈥淚 feel so healed by the sun,鈥 she said.
Sheriyona Lockhart, a senior dance major from Cleveland, Ohio, said she will solicit advice from her teachers and peers and review playlists of instrumental music when choreographing a piece. In this instance, she was looking for music that was smooth to reflect water, which was her inspiration for the section of the dance she scripted.
Amelia Skowron, a senior dance major from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was unable to perform the movements she choreographed due to a tendon injury in her foot. Sophomore dance major Jaden Millin, from Akron, Ohio, performed the movements on her behalf.
Skowron said she was inspired by videos of animals and how they made her think more deeply about the food chain and how, in nature, a larger animal often dominates the smaller.
Junior Cassidy Cipollo of Lakewood, Ohio, said she based her movements on research she had conducted recently on anticipatory grief and how the expected future impacts the present. Also taking part in the performance was sophomore Macie Baughman of Edinburgh Township, Ohio,
Eric Schmiedl, an actor and adjunct professor in the School of Theatre and Dance, read stanzas from 鈥淧ledge鈥 as part of the performance, his words offering context for the dancer鈥檚 movements.
鈥淧ledge鈥 is a community poem compiled from writing workshop participants at the March for Science Education Summit in 2018. The effort is part of the larger initiative, an interactive exhibit, installation and writing invitation that explores the connection between poetry and science, housed at the Wick Poetry Center on the Kent Campus.
In September 2026, the Wick Poetry Center will host the first Poets for Science national conference, which will take place at Kent State, where the dance is expected to be performed again.
