This spring, junior Hannah Nobles had the opportunity to work with Artspire VA, a nonprofit organization created by Gennifer Difilippo to inspire the community through the arts, to choreograph her own dance. The piece is for cancer awareness and may qualify to join other groups performing at the upcoming Curefest in Washington DC.

“I was excited to get the opportunity and I already knew the song and I really wanted to use it for something special and this was the perfect place to use it,” said Nobles.  

The song, “So Don’t” by artist Joelle, has emotional lyrics such as; “I don’t wanna see a world without you It wouldn’t be the same, the same at all, So don’t go, So don’t pass the pain on, you’re strong”. Nobles’ choreography has a strong message through movement and special “mini-solos” that show the dancers supporting each other  throughout the dance.

“A lot of dances for events like this are really happy but I really like choreographing emotional contemporary dances and I just I feel the message is more realistic if it were a sad dance rather than a more joyful one,” sad Nobles, “The first performance was Sunday the 15th, and everything went well with the choreography and the audience hopefully understood the message I wanted to show.”

Performing the dance is a selected group of dancers ranging from Middle schoolers to seniors, all portraying the feelings of helping someone fight with cancer.

“Having emotion in a dance can be hard but if you have a connection to what the dance is about it is easy and effortless,” said freshman Anna Penkinuas, one of the dancers who volunteered to participate, “The dance was about cancer and how it is important support people that have cancer and are ready to give up. I have known people with cancer and what they have gone through and I thought about them and what they went through which inspired my emotion while performing the dance.”

This piece will be performed by the group Saturday June 4 at the Wolverine Walk-a-Thon, a fundraiser for Fight for the Girls, an organization that helps people affected by cancer.