Arts Directory

About

Dance Matters is a Charleston, SC based contemporary dance company with a commitment to creating cross-disciplinary performances that engage, educate, and inspire audiences of all ages. Essential to the company’s mission is to create work that can be adapted to address K-12 curriculum standards and tailored for dance integrated residencies. Employing a unique blend of dance and storytelling, the company’s inaugural work, Earthsongs (2017), invites audiences of all ages to consider the role human activity has on the natural world. Set to stories from the Netsilik Eskimos, Mark Catesby, and the SC Sea Turtle Rescue Center, and culminating in a joyful dance finale, this contemporary dance challenges us to learn from the past and envision a future of peaceful coexistence. The company’s second work, Coming to Monuments (2018), unpacks the history behind Confederate monuments and their conflicted legacy. Focusing on SC history, Coming to Monuments shares the struggles of African Americans to achieve equal civil rights, such as Septima Clark’s Citizenship Schools, and Millicent Brown, one of the first black students to attend Charleston schools. Fueled by the music and poetry of Charleston Poet Laureate, Marcus Amaker, the piece questions who determines how history will be shaped and by whom.