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Every semester, the Duke Dance Program hosts an informal student show called “Ark Dances.” The show is affectionately named after our amazing main dance studio on campus. This building has played many historical roles. It has served as a bowling alley, a social dance hall, and even a gym for the Duke basketball team! Now, however, it is the home of all things dance here at Duke.

Ark Dances is always a highlight of the semester. Anybody and everybody is invited to be a part of the production. This is one of my favorite events of the year because it serves as another great reminder of the diversity and talent here on Duke’s campus.

This year, we had styles ranging from ballet, contemporary, jazz, bhangra, bellydance, Scottish Highland Dance, hula, Bollywood, breakdancing… to name a few! It was incredible to see the energy and passion that all of the students brought to the dance floor. Another awesome thing about the performance? Many of these students are not even involved in the dance program; students who are engineers, math majors, history majors, public policy majors, and chemistry majors get out there and dance their hearts out. Duke students are full of so many interdisciplinary interests, and it’s great to see people from all over campus coming together to be a part of this show.

I had the opportunity to perform in the show with the Duke University Dancers. I was in China this summer as a part of this group; we performed at the Opening Ceremonies of the Universiade World University Games in Shenzhen, China. After that, we went on to perform throughout the country! We even met up with the Duke Men’s Basketball Team in Kunshan, where we performed at half-time for their face-off against the Chinese Olympic Basketball Team. Our Ark Dances performance featured segments from our performances this summer. You can see a video below…enjoy!

Duke University Dancers performing at Ark Dances

If you’re curious, I’m the one in the blue floral printed dress. It was so fun to perform this again and relive some of our memories from China!