Twirl & Whirl: Tabor Dancers Interpret the Universe at New Bedford Art Museum

Dance has long been a powerful medium for self-expression, and when combined with visual art, it can create a unique dialogue between movement and still imagery. The process of responding to a piece of art through dance offers a profound way to engage in a multi-sensory manner, deepening the performer's and the viewer’s experiences, and transforming passive observation into active interpretation.

Each month, the New Bedford Art Museum welcomes noted dancers and choreographers to perform a response to an installation in their "Twirl & Whirl" series. For February's performance, Tabor Dance Coach Steven Vaughn and a select group of student dancers collaborated with The Gold School Dance Art to perform a moving response to the installation Nebulae: The Universe Unveiled, which celebrates six awe-inspiring NASA photographs of deep space, captured by the Webb and Hubble Telescopes.

Vaughn describes the performance as an opportunity for dancers to push themselves to explore time and space differently. "A traditional performance, on a stage, might last two or three minutes. This performance is 30 minutes long. We're moving slower for a longer period of time. We can really explore different aspects of movement without needing to just cram in a bunch of technical skills."

Although the performance is conceptualized and rehearsed in advance, dancers create their own choreography and are responsible for figuring out how to navigate around displays and the audience in the moment. Vaughn notes that this type of performance requires dancers to be adept in making quick decisions. "You're going to come up against a blank spot, where you need to make a decision. We work hard to make sure that the dancers know that they have all of the pieces, all of the skills and knowledge and confidence, that they will need to do something successfully."

In response to Nebulae, the group presented a series of solo and small group interpretive dances in answer to the question, “How far inward must we look to imagine the vastness of space?” Following the performance, students are encouraged to talk with the audience members and answer questions about their unique interpretations.

"The students really learn that anything they do as a dancer can be interpreted in as many ways as it is viewed," says Vaughn, who also notes that the audience in February was incredibly diverse, and included, "everyone from respected dance professionals to medical professionals and local business owners."

This is the second performance for Isa Sacerdote '26 who remarks on her growth as a dancer through this experience.

"Every time I work with The Gold School dancers, I feel myself grow as a dancer, both physically and artistically. I'm an anxious performer to begin with and it's a challenge balancing this with schoolwork and extracurriculars but looking back on it I'm always glad I took on the task," says Sacerdote.

Reflecting on what she hoped the audience would glean from the performance, Sacerdote notes, "Going into our performance, I hoped our audience would take away the beauty in each of our pieces. I really wanted them to appreciate the different styles we performed and the contrasts they presented. One piece was a silent tap solo with no music while another was an upbeat duet with an almost jazzy feel. I liked how we all were able to fit the frame of Nebulae in our own unique ways."

When asked what he hoped the students would learn from participating in this exhibit, Vaughn says, "It's hard to articulate, it's always different for each individual. But I hope it broadens their range of understanding what dance can be. How it can be perceived by audiences from all walks of life and bring a community together. The more we think back on it, the more we'll uncover."