ECS 2026

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“Action!” explores the stereotypes frequently imposed on women in film and social media, using a cabaret-inspired structure framed by two MCs. The work begins with direct audience interaction, inviting viewers to dictate emotions and actions, immediately placing the performers in a position of external control. From there, six distinct characters emerge, each embodying familiar tropes—conforming to expectation, performing for approval, and existing within narrowly defined roles. 

As the piece progresses, these characters begin to fracture. Through subtle shifts that build into full transformations—costume changes, altered movement qualities, and role reversals—they break away from the identities assigned to them. Each vignette, marked by the ritual of “Action” and “Cut,” reinforces the constructed nature of these personas while highlighting the tension between performance and authenticity. 

While the work embraces humor and theatricality, it ultimately asks the audience to reflect more critically: To what extent are these stereotypes simply entertainment, and to what extent do they shape real expectations? At what point does performance become confinement? “Action!” invites viewers to consider what it means to reclaim agency—to move beyond imposed narratives and choose one’s own identity.

Rehearsal Process

Develop Characters and Stereotypes

  • Improv warmup exercises

  • Develop Characters and Stereotypes

  • Create and teach choreography

  • Alter and change choreography according to characters

  • Choreographed first, music came second

  • started with punk rock, jazz, music, and lyrics that tell the story

  • Popular music that the audience recognizes but perceives in a different way

  • ended with all instrumentals, acting, and dancers' choices told the story

  • Kept the popular aspect in some ways with songs like "Cell Block Tango" and "We Both Reached For the Gun" but used the instrumental versions in ways different than expected

  • The shift in song choices put the focus on the dancers, their characters, and the stories they wanted to tell

Music

A young woman with glasses and a plaid skirt, holding a notebook, standing against a dark background with pink lighting.

Rehearsal Videos

Mentor: Mary Robberts

Background in Jazz, Commercial Dance, and Theatre

Create 3 main goals, and evaluate your ideas based on those goals

1.

Push myself out of my comfort zone with jazz and musical theatre choreography that I don't have a lot of experience in

2.

From film to stage, how can you create connections? How does the audience feel differently when they are connecting with dancers on a stage? How can the dancers break the 4th wall, reach out to the audience, look directly at the audience, and connect with them as if looking directly into a camera's eye? A sense of unfortabiity that can be achieved in film while losing the safe aspect of being hidden behind a camera? 

3. 

How can I create an immersive experience? Make the audience think about the things they are viewing

Mentor Feedback

Peer Feedback

Audience feedback section: How is your work perceived differently based on how the opening audience participation section is set up? 

What is a way to clearly separate the scenes to help the audience not get lost throughout the constant changes?

Eight women sitting and standing against a brick wall, laughing and enjoying each other's company.

Inspiration From

Monica Bill Barnes

A woman dressed in a costume with a feathered headpiece, laughing joyfully, in a performance setting.

  • Very theatrical work

  • Elements of comedy

  • Performers fully committed to each role

  • Elements of intentional audience interaction

In collaboration with my dancers and the costume designers, we developed characters and found items that best represented these stereotypes as we see them in popular film and media content.

  • What is your stereotype/character? 

  • How does this stereotype personally relate to you or something you have seen?

  • What do you see your character wearing? Clothing? Accessories? Shoes? Hair?

  • How do you see your character altering/changing/growing and breaking out of their stereotype or morphing into a different stereotype?

  • How does your costume change with the transformation of your character? This could be taking off layers, adding more, changing layers, using accessories, changing hair styles etc.

  • Find 2-5 examples of songs, television, or media that represent your stereotype as inspiration

Costumes

Table outlining a costume planning for a dance performance, including costumes, accessories, hair styles, transition steps, and final appearances for five performers, with notes on each costume and hair details.

Final Character Interpretation

Start:

Bland- Boring - Quiet - Basic (Lyrik) office attire, business cas

Ditsy - dumb blonde - clueless (Ava) (Eva) girly popular attire

Nerd- School Girl- Quiet (Lauren) party girl

Sexy Secretary (Natalie) Business case that is more revealing

Perfect- Put Together- Type A (Kampbell) 

Male Gaze MC (Lily)

Female Gaze MC (Lauryn)

Transition:

Ava loses her big dress and has a showgirl outfit underneath

Kampbell gives the top of her costume to Eva. Kampbell has a broght sparkly top underneath

Lyrick loses her blazer and gives it to Natalie

Lauren loses her tie and gives it to Lyrick

Eva takes Laurens' glasses

Eva loses her Blazer and gives it to Lyrick

Stage with five performers, some bending forward on chairs, illuminated by blue and purple lighting, ornate gold and red theater framing.

Marketing

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Marketing 〰️

A woman poses against a brick wall, wearing red pants with white stripes, a sparkly gold top, and black boots.
A young woman with long wavy dark hair, kneeling on a wooden floor in front of a brick wall, wearing a sheer gold top, black shirt, and maroon sweatpants with white stripes.
A group of nine diverse young adults posing against a brick wall, some sitting on the floor, others standing or leaning, in a variety of casual and fashionable outfits, striking different poses.
A smiling woman with long wavy dark hair, wearing a black turtleneck and a shimmery top, standing in front of a brick wall.

Publicity Article in Collaboartion with LC Lang and Avril Sharp

The University of Alabama Theatre and Dance presents the Emerging Choreographers’ Showcase. This concert features nine student-created works with each piece showing the choreographer’s growth, creativity, and honesty through movement. Over the past year, these student artists have learned how to create dance from start to finish, working closely with designers, stage managers, and arts staff to bring their ideas to life. Along the way, they asked important questions about themselves and the world of dance. Now, they are ready to share what they discovered. This feature highlights the work of LC Lang, Avril Sharp, and Lily Farrell. 

LC Lang, a junior majoring in Dance and Accounting, closely observes the world around her, especially traditional roles placed on women. She has seen many women feel pressure to marry for security or expectation rather than love. In her choreography, LC explores the struggle between what women show on the outside and what they feel on the inside. The dancers start with neat shapes, calm movement, and polite gestures, creating a perfect image. As they progress, the movement becomes messy and broken, revealing what is hidden beneath the surface. Through this contrast, LC’s piece questions how long someone can live in two worlds before it becomes too much. What happens at the moment everything breaks? 

Avril Sharp, a senior majoring in Dance and Nutrition, explores the idea of the “perfect picture.” Her work asks what perfection really means and who gets to decide it. Avril’s choreography looks at what happens behind the scenes of a perfect photo or story. It shows that not every story is meant to look the same or be shared in the same way. Through her movement, Avril’s piece questions what the perfect picture is. How does someone define their own version of it? 

Lily Farrell, a sophomore majoring in Dance and Creative Media, combines both of her majors to explore stereotypes often placed on women in the film industry. Through conversations with her cast, Lily found strong connections between film stereotypes and real-life experiences. Her piece questions why women are often written as side characters whose main purpose is to support a man or his storyline. Why are women so often placed in these roles, and who benefits from those stories being told? 

These questions do not come with simple answers. Instead, they are meant to be felt, witnessed, and reflected on through movement. The Emerging Choreographers’ Showcase invites audiences to experience these ideas live and decide what they mean for themselves. 

The Emerging Choreographers’ Showcase runs March 3–5 at 7:30 p.m., March 6 at 5:30 p.m., and March 7 at 2:00 p.m. Performances take place in the Dance Theatre in the English Building on The University of Alabama campus. Tickets are available online at ua.universitytickets.com, by phone at (205) 348-3400, or in person at Rowand-Johnson Hall from 12–4 p.m., Monday through Friday.