Atlanta-based choreographer T. Lang is the artistic director of T. Lang Dance, associate professor at Spelman College and director of the soon-to-open T. Lang School in Atlanta — and was recently on campus for a 10-day artist residency with the Dance Program.
“I was one of her faculty when she completed her M.F.A. in Dance at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and I invited her to Duke to create new work for our students because I wanted to expose them to a creative, entrepreneurial deep thinker and doer,” says Andrea E. Woods Valdés, chair of the Dance Program and associate professor of the practice of dance.
Lang’s residency was part of the course Performance: Modern, where students committed to weekly rehearsals throughout the semester. Lang created the original choreography, “Thighs of Thunder,” that takes its title and inspiration from the writing of Audre Lorde and the Coptic text “The Thunder, Perfect Mind.”
“It was an amazing experience watching her transform poetry and thought into embodied expression,” says Woods Valdés. “The seven dance students developed a symbiosis with her wherein the swirls of moving energy were almost palpable in the dance studio.”.
As part of the choreographic learning process, Lang also engaged dancers in conversations around themes such as power, taking space and defining what is unexpressed.
“At one point, she told the dancers, ‘You are seven people, but there might be seven million of you coming on stage — you are vast.’ At that moment, I literally saw the dancers’ facial and body expressions expand with the fierceness of their internal power and wisdom,” shares Woods Valdés. “These are the experiences our students thrive on and seek out when they engage with Dance Program courses and activities.”
Audiences will have the opportunity to see T. Lang’s choreography during the Dance Program fall concert, November Dances, on November 22 and 23. Shows begin at 7:30pm in the Reynolds Industries Theater on Duke’s campus. To purchase tickets: tickets.duke.edu