After a productive introductory year, the Concordia Dance Company, a student-led organization, has returned for the 2025-2026 school year. This group has become a force on campus, seeking to embrace everyone, regardless of skill level and past experience, to come and join. 

Co-founded by seniors Britton Cheney, Laura Gibson and Giselle Parra, this organization began in the fall of 2024 following the discontinuation of the Concordia Spirit Team. 

Gibson, who is majoring in Theological Studies, shared her and her fellow leaders' inspiration to establish the Concordia Dance Company. She said, “It came after we learned the dance team [Spirit Team] would be cut. We met as returners and discussed what our next steps would look like. We realized sidelines and game day is not really what we wanted to be doing anymore — rather, we wanted to be going back to our roots and doing more performative dance.”

Gibson expressed that meeting with Autumn Mortenson, the dance professor at Concordia, allowed the organization to exist because she was able to “use her connections with the Theatre Department to allow us to exist under them rather than being a club,” she said. 

Cheney, who is majoring in Kinesiology, echoed her fellow founder and said, “When the funding was cut for the Spirit Team, we knew we still wanted dance to be a part of Concordia’s campus. So we got together and made it happen.”

Both founders added that this being a student-run organization allows them the freedom to create the culture of the group. Gibson said, “We wanted this group to be welcoming to all because we have heard and experienced the tensions many dancers faced growing up. We wanted to provide a place where all could come to dance without fear of judgment or discrimination, a place of community, and move our bodies through the art of dance.” 

Agreeing, Cheney emphasized how they are able to ensure this welcoming environment by “encouraging everyone to try new movements and skills, even if they are unfamiliar. We do this by trying to lead by example by doing lots of different styles, even styles that we might be uncomfortable with,” she said.  

Sophomore Emily De Jesus, majoring in Business, expressed how this welcoming environment impacted her dance experience. She said, “I feel like I have improved a lot. They really break down the steps and then help you. It has also helped me in my own dance skills. I am actually able to be more flexible and do my right splits now.”

De Jesus also conveyed how the inclusive and supportive culture has helped her grow in her own college experience. “I would say it has made me more talkative. If I didn’t join the dance team, I’d be quieter and more introverted,” she said.

Gibson communicated that this atmosphere of inclusivity and growth is the main vocation of the group, which is to “make the Dance Company a place that is welcoming and founded in a Christ-like community,” she said.  

Gibson added that even though this is the organization's second year of operation, they still have many goals. “First, we would like to increase recruitment and get our name more present within the Concordia community. Secondly, we would like to partner with more groups on campus. Finally, we would like to be more present within the community beyond Concordia,” she said.

With these aspirations, Cheney said, “Our biggest goal is to have a spring showcase to show what we’ve been working on, and also to create a space for people to come, exercise, move and learn something new.”

If you would like to join the Concordia Dance Company, you can email britton.cheney@eagles.cui.edu or laura.gibson@eagles.cui.edu, or you can drop in on a class any Tuesday or Thursday from 7 p.m. 8:30 p.m. in the Student Union room 203.

Tags: dance, Performing Arts

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