Best of Both Worlds
September 8 | 7:30 PM | Stage [Sterling Theater] | General Admission $30
SMCDT returns to the stage with The Best of Both Worlds, an evening of bold new works that merge physicality, narrative, and emotion. The program features Artistic Director Elijah Alhadji Gibson’s Schadenfreude: Thank You for Your Service, his first original work on the company since 2022, alongside the world premiere of SMCDT artist Yu-Ling Yeh’s Gun 滚 (“roll” or “boil”) and guest choreographer Terrill Mitchell’s dynamic work Fault Lines.
The Kinkaid Dance Company, winners of SMCDT’s Dance Hunger Action: Vote Your Favorite Group, will perform a special pre-show presentation prior to the evening’s main performance.
Choreographer Highlights
Elijah Alhadji Gibson | Schadenfreude: Thank You for Your Service
Schadenfreude: Thank You for Your Service confronts the benefit some derive from the suffering of others, exposing the societal and systemic abuses rooted in that mindset. Through physically charged, layered choreography, the work traces the ripple effects of oppression from colonized lands to contemporary acts of nationalism, revealing how the abuse of power sustains itself through spectacle, silence, and obedience. Set against shifting projections of historical and modern imagery, dancers move through scenes of resistance, displacement, and reclamation, embodying the resilience of those who refuse to disappear. Gibson exposes the quiet complicity embedded in patriotism and service, asking audiences to consider not only who suffers, but who profits, and at what cost.
Yu-Ling Yeh | Gun 滚
Gun (滚), meaning “roll” or “boil,” explores the tension between control and freedom, conformity and individuality. Using the silk fan as both weapon and vessel, the work captures the moment when pressure can no longer be contained—when opposing forces finally collide. It asks a simple but powerful question: when faced with resistance, do we yield, or do we rise and create our own rhythm?
Guest Choreographer Terrill Mitchell | Fault Lines
Fault Lines unfolds in three sections that move from unity to individuality to renewed connection. The work begins with rhythm and collective energy, then shifts into moments of vulnerability where each dancer’s unique voice emerges. In the final section, those individual strengths reform the group, revealing harmony through difference. Commissioned by Social Movement Contemporary Dance Theater through its DHA Commission Project, Fault Lines celebrates resilience, trust, and the power of coming together after breaking apart.
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OPENING ACT
Kinkaid Dance Company
7:00PM | Doors open at 6:45PM
The Kinkaid School will perform guest choreographer Eddy Ocampo’s The Great Debate, a work that explores the vital need for respectful dialogue in an increasingly divided world. It challenges us to hold space for opposing viewpoints, to listen as much as we speak, and to seek understanding without surrendering our own truth. The work is more relevant than ever, reflecting not only the current political climate, but also the personal responsibility we each carry in the pursuit of true discourse.
