An Artist’s Escape

The mission statement of Hinge Dance Company, directly from their website: “Hinge Dance Company, LLC, is a semi-professional dance company established in Oxford, Mississippi. We are dedicated to sharing our love and passion for the art of dance; our goal is to provide artistic enrichment for the whole community. Through our performances we hope that our fusion of choreography, athleticism and aesthetics of each show will reveal the intrigue and importance that dance has as an art form.”

Mcat Davis, a senior at major from Dallas, Texas, dances in the piece that she choreographed herself for the Hinge Dance Company in Oxford, Mississippi. Davis choreographed two dances for the most recent dance performance put on by the company.

Hinge Dance Company members practice for shows about two to three times per week. Depending on when their next performance is, they will either practice at the studio or at the venue of the performance.

This contemporary duet features props such as balloons and rice that the dancers use to convey their message.

Davis and her fellow dancers practice a dance that Davis herself choreographed, for their performance at the Powerhouse on March 7, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. The performance featured a variety of different dances, including contemporary and modern.

The owner and creator of Hinge Dance Company, Lydia Siniard, critiques her dancers two days before the performance. Siniard created Hinge back in 2010when she was a student at the University of Mississippi, and it has continued to grow for the past eight years.

The Hinge Dancers bring a change of clothes to their dress rehearsal before the show.

For this contemporary duet, dancers use fans to project rice in the air at the end of their dance.

Company members show the most emotion during the performances. The performance at the Powerhouse was interactive, so for some of the dances, the dancers would dance on the floor with the audience members.

The dancers watch each other during the performances. The teammates consistently constructively criticized each others’ pieces to help improve.

During the dress rehearsal, one dancer is shocked at the level of emotion show during a dance. The dancers had not seen each others’ performances until the dress rehearsals.

Four different dances will be performed by the Hinge dancers, each one with a different song. The dancers were given creative control to choose the songs used, the costumes worn, and the choreography.

Davis and her classmates joke around with each other as they work to finish their final projects for their ceramics class. Davis said that she uses dance as an escape from her grueling workload as an art student.

Since Davis is an art major, a majority of her classes are in Meek Hall. This past spring semester, she took her final ceramics class before graduation.

Davis uses adhesive made in class to then attach her sculptures to the wall for display. The students are required to display their art after each project, which is included in the final grade.

Davis laughs as her classmates discuss the “End of Class” party they will have during the week of finals after they all properly display their final projects.

Davis’s art classes are three hours each at a time, therefore she and her other art majors have become very close.

For her final ceramics project, Davis’ class had to create sculptures that portrayed an animal in an abstract way. Davis made 18 different interpretations of bunny rabbits and will display them in the Meek Auditorium.

Davis looks on as her professor shows her how to properly make the adhesive that will display her final project.

Davis hopes to continue with both art and dance in the future, whether that be together or separate. She graduates from the University of Mississippi in May of 2018, and will return to Dallas.