Several dancers involved with the Moravian University Dance Company were recently offered an opportunity to perform with Monica Bill Barnes, a New York-based choreographer and performer, at Lafayette College on Friday, October 15 at 8 p.m.

“The Running Show” tells the story of the life of a dancer from the age of 7 to 70 through movement, interviews, and storytelling, with an end goal of portraying dancers as a new kind of “sports hero,” one that keeps moving no matter what gets in their way.

This show has been performed in various locations ranging from Upright Citizen’s Brigade in New York to the Sydney Opera House, and each performance changes based on the community the story is being presented to. 

This upcoming performance at Lafayette is within LVAIC (Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges), which includes Moravian University, Cedar Crest College, Lafayette College, DeSales University, Muhlenberg College, and Lehigh University. Several dancers from each of these schools will be participating in the show as part of the ensemble, including two from Moravian, Quinn Matthew and Katherine Langdon.

“I am so excited to be able to perform this show live,” says Langdon. “After working on it last year, and this whole week, it just seems like it is time. I have not gotten the chance to perform live in over a year now, and to start off with this truly inspiring story is amazing.” 

Since this past Monday, October 11, both Matthew and Langdon have been and will continue to take classes from 6-10 p.m. at the Williams Center for the Arts until the performance this Friday evening. 

“Being a part of Monica’s project is an extreme honor,” says Matthew, a senior dancer at Moravian. “It is personal not only to her life, but to the life of a dancer. This has been such a unique experience and has only helped to shape me as a performer. I hope to work with MBB again in the future!”