From the Chair:
On behalf of the Duke Dance Program faculty and staff, congratulations to the class of 2023!
We celebrate you for continuing to move forward with resilience, brilliance and creativity. We are proud that the Dance Program has been part of the road to your success. We are also proud to encourage you to explore and question the world around you so that it may become kuumba, more beautiful than the way you found it.
When you shine, we shine. We, however, have seen your struggles to take on challenges that have made you stronger, more creative and better peers and friends. Continue to move into the next phase of your life with the inspiration and motivation that you have shown to us and that we admire about you. Continue working for change and problem solving. Believe that every challenge has a solution, and you are part of making it manifest. Take time to reflect before you respond and offer the best of yourself to every situation.
The world is waiting for your gifts on so many levels. Stand up for, and with, people who need your fire and grace. Have confidence that you will “commence” with resources built on a solid foundation. Your families, friends and the Dance Program faculty are encouraged by what you are accomplishing. We believe in the power of the human body in motion — we have seen it evidence through you!
While it is bittersweet to see you go, we look forward to your visits and communications as you journey into the world beyond Duke. We wish you the very best and now celebrate you as our alumni! Continue to continue.
-Andrea E. Woods Valdés
Chair Duke Dance Program
Avery Lythcott-Haims
Degrees: Dance and Cultural Anthropology (interdepartmental)
Dance Production: November Dances 2022
Awards: Clay Taliaferro Award, Sudler Prize nominee
Student Groups: Rhythm & Blue, Hoof 'n' Horn
Career aspirations: Choreography, performance, musical theater
Why a degree in Dance?
The wand chooses the wizard! Through movement I think more clearly, transcend more freely and wonder more bravely than I do through any other mode of expression or inquiry. I finally said yes to Dance because it cradles my intellect in a manner compatible with the fabric of who I am.
Thanks to: Professors Andrea E. Woods Valdés and Michael Kliën, the undergraduate and MFA students I have danced with and my family.
Lihua Mo-Hunter
Degrees: Neuroscience; double minors Dance and Linguistics
Dance Productions: November Dances and Ballet Performance
Award: Benenson Award
Career aspirations: I would like to become a surgeon in the future and attend medical school in the 2024 academic year to take the steps necessary towards this goal.
Why a degree in Dance?
I chose to earn a degree in Dance based on the countless hours I put into practice prior to attending Duke. I studied dance in the realms of performance, but at Duke, I was able to approach the field academically to learn its historical underpinnings, its impacts on our society and to see the practice as an element of social change. I wanted something to signify my commitment and love to the art form.
Thanks to:
I would like to thank Professors Andrea E. Woods Valdés, Sarah Wilbur, Ava LaVonne Vinesett and Iyun Ashani Harrison.
Joey Rauch
Degrees: Dance and Public Policy
Dance Productions: Fall Student Showcase; Duke Arts Showcase; Embodied Contemporary Dance Showcases; Meshroom; Parliament and Constitution
Award: Julia Wray Memorial Dance Award
Student groups: Embodied Contemporary Dance and Trinity Ambassadors
Career aspirations: I’m interested in strategic partnerships and leadership development within the social sector.
Why a degree in Dance?
It felt like a no-brainer to me. Arts and culture sit at the center of my personhood, and the Dance Program reinforces that passion in every single class.
Beyond the love of artmaking, I’ve found a great deal of empowerment within academic courses like “Art as Work” and “Black Dance” learning under well-versed humanities scholars. Those frameworks have been vital for making sense of the world, especially in the most precarious of times.
My degree in Dance sets me up for a vibrant life with a surgical attention to how the world operates – I wouldn’t have it any other way.
While I’ve deeply appreciated my colleagues in Public Policy, Dance feels like my home at Duke. The students and professors have a strong rapport, and we are critical stewards of one another. It feels good to have been known and to get to know one another.
Thanks to:
All of the professors within the Dance Program, especially my advisor, Sarah Wilbur, who has donated countless hours talking about arts, labor and ethics with me. She has been my strongest mentor over these four years.
I’ve also deeply appreciated courses with Professors Andrea Woods-Valdez, Michael Kliën, Purnima Shah, Kristen Clotfelter, Keval Khalsa, and Thomas DeFrantz.
Florence Wang
Degrees: Statistics and Neuroscience, minors Chemistry and Dance
Dance Productions: Campus-wide performances (such as Converge, Awaaz, and Jabulani), Dance Council Fall Showcase 2020 and 2022, The Nutcracker 2019 with Devils en Pointe, Embodiment Showcase 2022, Defining Movement Showcase 2022, Choreolab 2023
Student groups: Embodiment Contemporary Dance (co-founder), Defining Movement Dance Group, Delta Sigma Pi Professional Business fraternity (senior vice president) and DTech Scholars
Why a degree in Dance?
Dance has played an integral role in defining my identity, and I wanted to continue my dance training in college through a curriculum that encourages intellectual creativity and interdisciplinary perspectives as well. Additionally, the Duke Dance program has incredible instructors and I wanted to be able to learn and grow from these admirable individuals.
Thanks to:
Professor Iyun Ashani Harrison for being my independent study advisor and Professor Andrea E. Woods Valdés for being an incredible mentor throughout my undergraduate experience.
Missing: Alyssa Shi, Nicole Schwartz and Kamryn Stafford