Silent Moves, Loud Stories: Inside Our Storytelling Through Dance Class

This spring, we ran our second Storytelling Through Dance pilot with instructor Carolyn McCarthy. Over seven weeks, students transformed movement into narrative, drawing inspiration from the classic tale Bluebeard, a story of intuition, curiosity, secrets, and truth to create original choreography. Students trained in a fusion of street jazz, contemporary dance, and expressive movement. They learned to communicate emotion through body language, facial expression, and physical dynamics. Each session blended technique, movement practice, and reflection. By the end, students performed choreography that was filmed and edited into a concept video.

The impact was powerful. Many found new confidence, deeper self-expression, and a meaningful space to process emotions and explore identity through movement. This course reaffirmed how performance and storytelling support personal growth and build community. We’re grateful to everyone who made this possible, our dedicated students, Carolyn for her guidance, and our production team for bringing the vision to life. We look forward to expanding storytelling-through-movement courses at Refuge in future semesters.

With gratitude to our supporters: Western Avenue, Taffeta, Lowell Public Schools.

Choreographer: Carolyn McCarthy

Videographer: Kyle Thach

Photography: Henry Marte

Dancers: Rehanamali Guzman, Daryan Kong, Maritza Lezama, Cloudy Rosas, Emilie Rom, Mary Paw, Mimi Moo, and Emma Tran.

Watch the culmination of the project on YouTube!