Moving to Her Own Beat

Her studies and work with the dance team keep Theresa Brown on her toes.

Photo: Theresa Brown

For most of her life, Theresa Brown has been telling stories through the art of dance. “I love how I can express my passion and emotions without using words. I think the artistry in dance is unique, and there is nothing like it.”

She first discovered her affinity with self-expression via movement as a four-year-old growing up in San Jose, California. “Dancing allowed me to feel and express emotions I had difficulty putting into words,” she said. Studying theatre and dance, Brown continues to hone her skills in sway as one of the 16 members of the award-winning California Lutheran University’s Dance Team.

“Dance team has taught me to never be afraid of trying new things and getting out of my comfort zone because that is how we grow and improve.”

Poetry of the feet

The past few years Brown has served on the dance team have been triumphant. The team garnered awards across several divisions at the annual USA College Championships in Anaheim, Calif. This February, it placed second for Division II/III in Jazz and first for Division III for Hip Hop and seventh overall in that genre.  

“Not being able to really perform or compete for almost two years really lit a fire for both my team and me, and together we used that passion to drive us and work harder to prove that nothing could stop us,” she said. 

Brown and her fellow dancers also had opportunities to perfect their moves by participating in home football game halftimes, select Regals and Kingsmen basketball halftimes, open practices and campus events like club involvement fairs.

Cal Lutheran’s intimate campus size ultimately led Brown to attend the university, where she could form strong ties with her professors. She cites dance instructor Stephanie Liapis as being instrumental in advancing her choreography skills.

“She helps me see things from different perspectives that I would not have thought to explore before.” For instance, Liapis taught Brown that not everything has to look the same and that varied, more strange movement can make pieces more visually captivating. Brown’s favorite type of dance genres span ballet, for the technique and strength it requires, to musical theater jazz, for the high energy and performance it provides. 

Storytelling through movement 

Brown showcased her talents in dance at two recent events. She debuted a new stage piece titled “Influences” at Cal Lutheran’s Winter Dance Concert in December where she utilized modern and contemporary genres set to two classical music tunes from pianist Mark Slater. “The dance was a collection of duets and trios where dancers tied different colored material to another dancer throughout the piece.”

In January, she also made a second presentation of her work “What’s Inside the Box?” at the American College Dance Association Baja Conference at CSU Dominguez Hills. She initially presented this piece in 2023 in the Preus-Brandt Forum during the spring dance concert “Expressive Symphonies.” 

“I really enjoyed ‘What’s Inside the Box’ because I felt I was really able to explore dance and choreography in new and exciting ways I have not before,” said Brown. “I tried to think beyond standard choreography practices and wanted to explore an abstract concept as a theme for a dance piece.” 

She explains she typically creates works around psychological ideas concerning heightened emotions like loneliness, depression and mental stability. With “What’s Inside the Box,”, she built her own prop, a box wrapped with black and silver fabric resembling an optical illusion, and used unique lighting, both of which serve as points of pride.

“This was a group piece with five dancers. The lighting was darker, and changes were made to match changes in the music,” Brown said. “The lighting made the stage look darker and moodier to match the mysterious theme for the dance.”

During her four years on campus and the dance team, Brown has singularly choreographed multiple projects best described as modern/contemporary as well as jazz, musical theater, ballroom and lyrical with the dance team and other dancers from the department. Her works include three live concert pieces, one filmed dance piece and a screen dance for which she wrote a poem and filmed and edited herself. Many of her projects use props, both large and small, such as a controllable lamppost to a couch that dancers could walk on, to create a specific atmosphere and tell stories. 

Over the past two years ago she has either won or tied for first place in Cal Lutheran’s “Dancing with the Stars” show. She and then-fellow student Adam Souza performed ballroom style in 2022, where they respectively wore a flowing teal blue dress and a dark blue suit. To prepare, Brown researched the dance style, watched several episodes of “Dancing with the Stars” and talked with her cousin who owns a ballroom dance studio in Orange County.

“In my studies at Cal Lutheran, I have learned that you gain lots of experience and knowledge through practical application. Exercises and projects given to me are what have really helped me learn,” Brown said. 

Like many in artistic métiers, Brown often encounters creative blocks. She says she overcomes these obstructions by “taking a break, stepping back, looking at the big picture then trying to understand the most important part” of her projects. 

“From there,” she said, “you can focus and prioritize the important things in your work and thinking.”

Brown recalls one challenge she surmounted during her sophomore year for her piece entitled “Angels and Demons.” “It was a piece that had five dancers but focused mostly on three. I made a story-driven piece, but each dancer had different choreography that I had to create, which made it a very large task to undergo for my second concert piece.” Coming up with different movements was difficult, but she remembered why she wanted to create this piece and used those emotions to create movements that told the story. 

Brown expresses her gratitude for issues like these stating, “I am extremely thankful for the challenges I have experienced in my college years because they have taught me so much and helped shape me into the person I am today.” 

Her priorities this spring include earning her degree from Cal Lutheran and then finding work. “I would like to remain in Southern California as I feel there are so many opportunities here,” she said. She hopes to embark on a career in performing arts or become a dance teacher. As Brown has done for most of her life, she will stay on her toes and keep moving forward.