COURTESY OF COMPANY UNSPOKEN
After starting his own dance company last year, senior André Williams is breaking grounds once again and bringing in a professional to teach the first ever master class in dance to be held on DePauw University’s campus.
Ashley Morton, who dances in Pones Incorporated in Cincinnati, will be teaching the class which will be held tonight at 7 p.m. in Lily 1025, the new dance studio.
A master class is when a professional comes in and works with a group of people for a specific project. Morton will be coming in to teach a full class open to DePauw faculty, students and staff tonight as well as an exclusive class to Company Unspoken all day on Saturday.
Williams wants to encourage people to stop by and watch Saturday’s class as well, which runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Lily 1025.
Morton has performed with Onix and O2 color guard as well, which is how Williams got to know her.
“She is a really good friend of mine, so I am excited to spend time with her as well,” said Williams. “I met her when I was a senior in high school, marching winter guard, and I was obsessed with Onix’s show that year and [also] with her. I met her at regionals and we became Facebook friends and have been talking ever sense.”
Morton has also been helping Williams with some of his choreography for his company.
“It’s amazing that André can bring in outside people like this to better our choreography,” said sophomore Company Unspoken member Hayden DeBruler. “It’s always good to have more opinions and professionals from outside of campus. I’m excited to experiment and learn from someone new too.”
First-year Kevin Salinas is also intrigued at the idea of new content.
“I’m excited to see what kind of choreography she writes,” said Salinas. “I’m also excited just to get to know her as a person and learn from her background and her experiences.”
The event was made possible through funding from DePauw Student Government.
“I am most excited about seeing the company and people at DePauw work with someone who is an artist and great choreographer,” said Williams. “We don’t have a dance major or minor here and dancing is sparse on campus so it’s nice that we were able to bring someone in who has the skills and talent to teach us some cool stuff other than what I have been teaching.”
As far as Company Unspoken goes, their first and only performance this semester will be in May.
“It is a huge production titled ‘Aftermath,’” said Williams. “That is what [Morton] is working with us on this Saturday: ideas for the show.”
This year the company held two auditions: one at the end of last semester and one at the beginning of this semester.
“We also had some come in a bit later who were interested,” said Williams. “Depending on their schedule, and if they enjoyed it, we had them join the team as well.”
Last semester there were 18 members, but this semester there are 24.