Creekview High School’s Moving Ground Dance Company and Newman Smith High School’s Gallery in Motion Dance Company collaborated with the Texas A&M Department of Dance to perform for students and the community on Feb. 23 and 24. 

The project, “But Where There’s Hope, There’s Life,” focused on communicating the impact and importance of the Holocaust. 

“Being a part of the Hope/Life project was life-changing for our students,” said Ronelle Eddings, Director of Creekview High School’s Moving Ground Dance Company. “They had the opportunity to deeply understand the horrors of the Holocaust and how the impact of hate can still be seen today. It gave them the opportunity to empathize, understand, and think about how they can change the world.”  

Moving Ground Dance Company, Gallery in Motion Dance Company and Texas A&M Department of Dance performed the full-length-work at Creekview High School on February 23, 2023 and at Newman Smith High School on February 24, 2023. There were three sessions during the school day and six sessions in the evening. Select students were invited to the day performances and evening performances were open to the staff and community. The work consisted of nine choreographed sections that varied in group size, space, and timing.

The performances included: 

• An abstraction of Hitler’s speech and his rise to popularity
• A look at the everyday lives of the people in hiding
• Depictions of transportation to the concentration camps through the railroad system
• Examples of daily life in concentration camps and what led to liberation in 1945

The routines were choreographed by Christine Bergeron, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs School of Performance and Carisa Armstrong, Program Director from the Visualization & Fine Arts Department at Texas A&M University. CFBISD staff members Stephanie Laranjeira, Newman Smith HS’s Director of Gallery in Motion Dance Company and Ronelle Eddings, Creekview HS’s Director of Moving Ground Dance Company collaborated together to have their students be a part of this project. 

The dancers from each participating high school were:

Creekview Dancers:

• Eleanor Bowling
• Sophia Glover
• Araceli Godoy
• Brooke Green
• Grace Kendzierski
• Chelsea Marcos 
• Dariana Martinez 
• Erika Martinez
• Audrey Milton
• Ryleigh Moreno
• Kayla Payton
• Gabriela Sanchez
• Allison Stone
• Bianca Zacarias​ 

Newman Smith Dancers:

• Valerie Basped 
• Kaila Belt
• Madeleine Birmingham
• Bryli Jameson
• Latavia Johnson
• Olivia Ker
• Alexiane Lacas
• Elisa Lopez
• Caitlyn McKinley
• Chiziterem Osuji
• Asia Roberson
• Denise Robinson
• Gabriela Vasquez.

To learn more about this performance you can visit the Project Website. To watch Texas A&M’s promotion for the “But Where There’s Hope, There’s Life” project, please view the Project Trailer.

“This history lesson is still relevant today and we must never forget,” said Eddings.