Dancing on The Green

By Grace Collins ’22, October 6, 2023

Daniel Gwirtzman brings movement and community to campus.

Assistant professor of theatre and dance Daniel Gwirtzman (in green) has been holding his "Dance on the Green" performances for nearly two decades.

(Photo by Dave Burbank)

While a college athletics field full of folk dancers may seem like something out of a movie, assistant professor of theatre and dance Daniel Gwirtzman has made it a reality, time and time again.

Through his “Dance on the Green” program, Gwirtzman, founder of the Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company, brings movement and connection to communities. Gwirtzman teaches attendees the steps to group dances, from classic ’70s disco to folk dances native to cultures around the globe. For more than two decades, Gwirtzman has held variations of the event at venues across the country, from Kennesaw State University to Martha’s Vineyard.

On August 22, Gwirtzman was able to bring Dance on the Green to the IC campus for the first time. Held in Higgins Stadium following Convocation, the event was billed as a community dance party to kick off the academic year.

The gathering was met with an impressive turnout, with students, faculty, staff, and administrators coming together for 45 minutes of movement and sunshine.

“But it was extremely meaningful to be able to bring this joyful event to IC, knowing that colleagues of mine and students of mine could participate, as well as members of the community that I hadn’t met yet. IC feels like home.”

Daniel Gwirtzman

“It always means a lot to share dance with a broader, more general community,” Gwirtzman said. “But it was extremely meaningful to be able to bring this joyful event to IC, knowing that colleagues of mine and students of mine could participate, as well as members of the community that I hadn’t met yet. IC feels like home.”

For Gwirtzman, the events are about the community experience of dancing. (Photo by Dave Burbank)

Accessibility and inclusion are vital components of the joy surrounding the event. Gwirtzman ensures that the moves are simple and modifications are demonstrated, so that anyone can participate regardless of dance experience or physical ability.

“For people that think they can't dance, this is a comfortable way to be folded into it,” he said. “It doesn't matter if a step is on the wrong foot. There is no wrong foot when you're dancing folk or social dances as a community, because it's not going to be performed. It's not a lesson. It's just about the experience of dancing.”

Gwirtzman also recruited dancers from several of IC’s student-run dance troupes, like IC Unbound and IC Defy Dancers, to participate in the event.

“I wanted to create a way for these disparate dance organizations to collaborate, and for us to realize that at the end of the day, all movement is something that's shared, whether it's hip-hop, tap, K-pop, or ballroom, whatever the genre of dance,” Gwirtzman said.

He also spoke to the significance of holding Dance on the Green on an athletic field. Higgins Stadium, next to the Athletics and Events Center, is home to IC’s lacrosse and field hockey teams.

“It felt really important to dance on the athletic field,” he said. “Dance shares so much with sports in the level of athleticism, and it felt really wonderful to take this athletic field, where I'm not aware that dance has ever occurred, and claim it as a space for dance.”