Assistant MTSU professor Jade Treadwell and an ensemble of dance students and alumnae brought their artistry to a Nashville audience in July, presenting a special performance at the Frist Art Museum inspired by a new exhibit by artist Kara Walker.
The July 24 dance, which Treadwell choreographed as an independent project for the Frist and titled “Visceral Undercurrent,” featured sophomore Jasmine Dillon of McMinnville, Tennessee, May graduate Jordyn Hill of Knoxville, and graduate student Jennifer James and senior Tika Smith, both of Murfreesboro, dancing alongside their professor in an ensemble.
Treadwell incorporated both rhythmic tap and contemporary modern dance movement into “Visceral Undercurrent” to reflect Walker’s images of the painful legacies of slavery, sexism, violence and imperialism in “Kara Walker: Cut to the Quick,” on exhibit at the Frist through Oct. 10.
“I’m honored to be sharing my work,” Treadwell said before the performance. “Most importantly, I’m grateful for the opportunity to share my love for choreography and performance with a trusting cast. They went all the way on this creative journey.”
The museum called the dancers’ tribute to Walker’s work “magic” and “powerful” in its social media. Find a brief video of the MTSU dancers on the Frist’s Twitter account.
The art display marks Walker’s first solo exhibition at the Frist and features more than 80 of her works, including prints, drawings, paintings, sculpture, film and the large-scale silhouette cutouts for which she’s most often recognized.
Her collection of silhouettes layered over illustrations reproduced from Harper’s Weekly magazine’s 1866 “Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War” aims to expose the racial injustices of the period. Another series, “An Unpeopled Land in Uncharted Waters,” captures the horrors of the slave trade from multiple perspectives.
The dance troupe’s performance “explored the various layers of turbulence captured in the stirring imagery in Walker’s etching, ‘An Unpeopled Land in Uncharted Waters: no world,’” Treadwell said.
The professor is currently working toward her doctoral degree in exercise science at MTSU and researches movement screens and injury protocols in undergraduate dancers.
Assistant professor Jade Treadwell, center, and an ensemble of MTSU dance students: From left are sophomore Jasmine Dillon of McMinnville, Tennessee; senior Tika Smith of Murfreesboro; Treadwell; May graduate Jordyn Hill of Knoxville; and graduate student Jennifer James of Murfreesboro. (photo courtesy of the Frist Art Museum)
MTSU’s dance program offers the only Bachelor of Science degree in dance at a public university in Tennessee. For more information about the program, visit mtsu.edu/dance.
For more information about the Walker “Cut to the Quick” exhibit at the Frist Art Museum in Nashville, visit fristartmuseum.org.
