The Power of &

CU Boulder Dance is in revolt. In March of next year it will take over a campus building. And there are plans for future incursions. While “revolt” might be mild overstatement, the word gets at the pointedness as well as the playfulness woven into the department’s reframing of its program under the refreshed rubric “Dance &” in its curriculum and its four 2026-27 productions: A.R.T. Through the Wake, Dance Against Progress, Coup d’etat and The Current, the annual season ender composed of faculty and guest artist work. 

So, think of that ampersand as an invitation. One that encourages dance graduate students, majors and minors to venture into the unknown (something the program has continued to nudge over the years). One that also offers a banner for non-majors—as well as audiences—to rally round, especially at a time when the challenges to what makes us human feel particularly urgent. 

“The Dance Program’s manifesto is ‘We refuse to separate mind and body, dance and other disciplines, and us from one another,'” said Jadd Tank, second-year MFA candidate who has been involved in the department’s rebranding of both its performances and its curriculum. If that sounds defiant, it is. 

This season’s four “episodes” take on the meaningfulness and meaning-making of dance and movement at this particularly urgent moment. “We’re just trying to step it up, especially right now with AI, with machine learning,” says Tank. “We believe that dance/movement is urgent. And that the live engagement is necessary and unavoidable in our current zeitgeist of automation.”

Third-year Dance MFA candidates Angel Anderson, Rhianna Cranston and Tanniqua-Kay Buchanan launch the new season with their shared thesis performance A.R.T. Through the Wake — distinct choreographic works that research world-making, archiving, prophecy, and more. In the words of the artists, “Through hybridity across movement, ritual, futurism and emergent technologies, this performance acts as a laboratory for imagining liberated Black futures rooted in joy, hope and collective possibility.” 

As for that brain-teasing title of Dance Against Progress, blame it on the thorny Slovenian philosopher and contrarian cultural critic, Slavoj Žižek. His 2024 book of essays questioning the various notions of “progress” inspired this reimagining of what used to be a works-in-progress showcase.

“We’re questioning what it means to be ‘in progress,’” said Tank. “What does progress actually look like? And not only within the dance department and within the process of making dance, but also in terms of our bodies and dance against this incessant growth model of capitalism?” 

That rebellious note isn’t merely pedagogical. It offers a way for audiences to engage with work differently. It’s also practical: it reflects the department’s desire that its undergraduate and graduate students look beyond dominant notions of dance performance to be even more critically engaged in risk-taking creative practices. If only as a way to enact more sustainable, just, and viable practices as artists and as people in the world.”

Having expanded his own professional work as a movement-centric creative, Tank wants “to make sure that the performers and the dance makers in the institution have an experience of what it’s like to make dance not for the proscenium, where proscenium stages will likely be a challenge to come by.”  

In the realms of that which is urgently human and being immersed in cutting-edge dance, The Current is an evening of new dance works by faculty and renowned guest artists including featured by CHA and Cox Family Fund Visiting Artist Jasmine Hearn from NYC. “This performance draws on the expertise, research, and range of our incredible faculty” said Tank “as it moves around multiple realities of now, holding diverse styles, forms and politics.”

So, about that takeover. Coup d’etat will feature curated discipline-defying performance and installation of graduate and undergraduate artistry from across campus. This is &’ing in action. It will also highlight this year’s Dance BFA candidate Sam Antell. Moving through the University Theatre Building, audience members will be able to choose their own adventures as performances take place in different rooms and spaces in the building. Call this clever, challenging, provocative. “Just don’t call it ‘immersive,'” advised Tank. “We’re firm believers in this department that all performance is immersive.” 

Special Mention: 
Adjacent to the CU Presents Season, Tank’s Dance MFA thesis production P.O.V, will happen at Atlas/B2 October 30. Tank described P.O.V as, “A variety show of movement-based physical theater and dance, staged in the round which takes on contemporary politics, culture, and critique.”

CU Dance 2026-27 Season

A.R.T. Through the Wake

Episode 1 of 4
Oct. 23-25, 2026
Charlotte York Irey Theatre

Dance Against Progress

Episode 2 of 4
Nov. 14, 2026
Charlotte York Irey Theatre

Coup d’etat

Episode 3 of 4
March 5-7, 2027
University Theatre Building

The Current

Episode 4 of 4
April 1-4, 2027
Charlotte York Irey Theatre

also

P.O.V

Oct. 30, 2026
ATLAS, B2 Black Box Theatre