Dance Based on Native Boarding School Experience Receives National Accolades
Collaboration between professor and student results in moving performance
April 8, 2024–EPHRAIM, UT – The Snow College Dance Department is getting some national attention on the stage for their latest work, I am alive, I am alive, I am alive. A collaboration between Professor Dmitri Peskov and student Eva Green, the piece was selected to perform at the professional Midwest RAD Festival in Kalamazoo, MI and the Regional ACDA Gala at Weber State University. It has also been selected to be included in the Movement Lab series in Salt Lake City on April 15, 2024.
In the six-minute piece, Green tells the story of her great-grandfather Simeon Balleu Tickaneesky, who was sent to the Seneca Indian Boarding School as a child. Beaten and neglected, those who run the school attempted to strip Simeon of his Cherokee identity. Unlike his older brother Nathaniel, Simeon survives the ordeal.
The dance is a beautiful example of interdisciplinary work by Green and Peskov. The spoken text began as an essay Green wrote when she was a senior in high school. Sitting in her U.S. History class, Green was shocked to learn how little her classmates knew of the existence of these boarding schools. When she shared that her great-grandfather had attended one, her peers didn’t believe her. Green said, “At that moment I knew I had to share my great-grandpa’s story. I didn’t write the essay for a class assignment. I wrote it for me. I wrote it for my family. I wrote it for my great-grandpa.”
The theme resonated deeply with Peskov, the grandson of Soviet political prisoners under Stalin’s regime. His grandfather was executed. His grandmother was imprisoned in a labor camp and survived to tell her story. Peskov drew on his professional experience and family story to refine the spoken text, then he and Green worked closely to choreograph the dance. Green chose the dress and created the stomping movement based on a movement used in a powwow. She knew they had created something special when it all came together. She said, “When we performed it on stage, I could feel him—and others—there with me. It was unlike anything I’ve ever felt.”
For more information about the Snow College Dance Company or to get involved in the dance department, please contact Dmitri Peskov at ude.wons@voksep.irtimd or visit snow.edu/dance.
About Snow College
Snow College, founded in 1888 by Utah pioneers, is a two-year college with campuses located in Ephraim and Richfield, Utah, and a learning center in Nephi, Utah. Serving more than 5,000 students, the college is committed to helping students graduate debt-free, gain resume-worthy experience, and develop a plan for the future. The affordable price and personalized environment full of opportunities allow students who find Snow College to find themselves. Learn more about all Snow College has to offer online at http://www.snow.edu.