WHAT: Shift Dance Company, which launched this fall, is a student-run group that connects contemporary and ballet dancers across the Bi-Co. Meeting 12 to 16 hours a week for rigorous technique classes and rehearsals, Shift offers valuable training and performance opportunities for dancers at Haverford and Bryn Mawr College. The group performs each semester, hosting and taking part in dance concerts in Marshall Auditorium that feature both collective and solos pieces. “Our main goal is to provide a company where dancers can maintain and build their technique,” said Shift Dance Company President Shivani Parikh ‘20.“We are a very tight-knit group and hold frequent social activities outside the studio.”
WHO: The Shift Dance Company was founded (and is currently run) by Parikh. Hannah Misangyi ‘19 serves as vice president, Nina Shah ‘19 as treasurer, Mary Cott ‘21 as secretary, and Emma Chen ‘21 manages the group’s public image.
WHEN: Shift’s open classes are usually held twice a week in the Swan Multipurpose Room. Kicking off with a strength, conditioning, and flexibility warm-up, the sessions vary from technique to combo classes in styles like contemporary and jazz. Most recently, the group co-hosted the 2018 Spring Student Dance Concert on April 21.
DID YOU KNOW? While Shift is a new group, the members have formed a close bond since their first performance at the 2018 Fall Student Dance Concert. “I think that’s because we got to show people the pieces that we had been working on for so long,” said Parikh. “We also had a holiday party where we decorated cookies, did ‘Secret Snowman,’ and went chair-racing in the DC basement, which was so much fun!”
GET INVOLVED: Membership is determined by audition,and the group accepts new members at the beginning of each academic semester. Their weekly classes, however, are open to anyone interested in improving their technique.
Photos by Soha Saghir ’21.