Hope Life goes to Carrollton
But Where There’s Hope, There’s Life was presented in February 2023 at two high schools in Carrollton, Texas. Directors Ronelle Eddings and Stephanie Laranjeira brought Hopelife to their campus in order to help educate students on the Holocaust and show their dancers how the arts can impact your community. This event began in January when choreographers Carisa Armstrong and Christine Bergeron went to Creekview High School to set one of the sections, Todesmärche, on dancers from Creekview High School (Moving Ground Dance Company) and Newman Smith High School (Gallery in Motion Dance Company). Over two days, dancers from both schools came together to learn the 7-minute work about the Death Marches during the Holocaust. As students learned the movement of the work they were also educated on what the death marches were and why these people were forced to evacuate as Allied Troops got closer to the camps. Texas A&M student who has been part of the work for 4 years, Anna Jones, also assisted in setting the work on the high school dancers.
In February, both high schools along with Texas A&M dancers came together and performed the evening-length work 18 times over two days. First at Creekview High School on February 23rd and then at Newman Smith High School on February 24th. High school dancers danced the work three times during the day for fellow students and then again six times that evening for community members. While one school performed the work the other high schoolers acted as the tour guides bringing the audience to 8 different locations throughout the school including hallways, dance studios, the library, and the school’s main entrance. This gave the students the opportunity to not only dance a section of the work but to be part of the whole evening by guiding audiences through the process.
At the end of the experience, dancers felt the deep impact of the experience and expressed it by adding their butterfly to our butterfly project and through their statements on our writing wall. Here are some of the words they left:
- I have been opened up to a whole new side of dance during this project. The minute details, emotional swells, and community impact are truly inspiring. Honored to be a part of this process.
- Thank you for giving us this experience to us. It was challenging, but I’m also thankful that I was part of this dance as it helps people remember holocaust victims.
- Hope Life has inspired me to always do works that make you feel. True artistry can and will go far.
- Hope Life helped me realize how amazing dance is and how easy it is to forget history. This inspired me to keep learning and keep storytelling through dance.
- All of you made an amazing job. I was not expecting my heart to want to come out of my chest. Thank you so much for this emotional experience.
Audiences in these performances also felt the impact of this work. They left the following words:
- But Where There’s Hope, There’s Life was beautiful. It should be a required viewing.
- 10/10 recommend
- Heart-wrenching, exhausting, exhilarating, breathtaking
- An immersive experience, a new way to view history with live people. It allows for younger generations to connect with the powerful stories of those who lost their lives in the Holocaust. It’s an exhausting experience performed with love every single time.
- Hopelife was an eye-opening experience that allowed me to reflect on and internalize a part of history that is often overlooked.
- An immersive look into history. Chilling performance and beautiful artistry.
- What an honor. We are changed after this experience. Thank you for speaking the truth and for human language.
- This was such an incredible experience. I feel like I learned so much about the experience of people in the Holocaust. I won’t forget this.
- What an incredible and powerful display of talent and storytelling.
If you would like us to perform this work at your center or school please contact us; Carisa Armstrong at carisa-armstrong@tamu.edu or Christine Bergeron at cbergeron@tamu.edu . This work can be adapted to your school through live performance and/or film. Currently, there is no charge for this immersive experience as it is funded through grants and other funding available to faculty at Texas A&M University. We are also looking for additional donors to help us fund the project in order to continue to bring it to more schools across the nation.
