OCTOBER 31, 2025 | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | By Stella Ward
Dance Workshop returns to center stage with its fall production, “I Love It,” on Nov. 6-8.
The program puts on a show with three performances each semester, each entirely choreographed, produced and run by students. Auditions are open to the entire student body, featuring around 20 dances that vary in technique and style.
The performances are coordinated by student co-chairs, representatives from the sophomore, junior and senior grades tasked with selecting choreographers, crafting a theme and working with Colorado College faculty members to ensure a smooth show.
Free to students, the event is first-come, first-served in terms of seating, every chair usually filled. Dance Workshop typically sees over 150 student participants and 16 choreographers. This semester, according to the co-chairs, the numbers have jumped to around 300 student participants.
“Everyone can be in Dance Workshop, no matter what their experience with dance is and find themselves a part of something really special,” said choreographer Lauren Larson ‘28.
“In my admittedly short time with DW, I’ve seen it grow and be a campus fixture and tradition,” Larson said. “I feel like there are more people each time I show up to auditions and everyone knows about it or has done it.”
Larson originally joined Dance Workshop as a freshman, hoping to use dance as a way to manage stress, and she stayed for the robust community. Larson said that watching the program grow and transform over the past year has been incredibly rewarding.
Larson’s sentiment rings true for the co-chairs as well, highlighting the value they see in the surge of new, inexperienced dancers and choreographers looking to experiment beyond classic genres of dance.
“There’s a better emphasis on building community within dances than when I was a freshman,” said co-chair Kylee Gosney ‘26. “I also feel like DW has gotten better at being more inclusive of beginner dancers and providing a space for them to grow.”
Dance Workshop has long prided itself on being a space for expression and movement of all kinds. In recent semesters, many choreographers have reported a diversification of the program as a whole, from skill sets to types of dance.
“I’ve noticed a large increase in the number of different dance styles and levels of dancers,” said choreographer Satchel Bell ‘27. “This semester, people should be hyped for a mix of hip-hop, heels and contemporary dances.”
Bell has had a role in Dance Workshop since his first semester at Colorado College, participating as a dancer and choreographer throughout his two years and watching the program take shape as a major campus tradition.
With the ever-expanding range of creative expression and accommodation to all skill levels, choreographers encourage students to experience the show as a supportive audience member and potential participant, feeling the onstage energy and community firsthand.
“It is for the first-year student who is lost and anxious and wants to find a community. And it’s also for the seniors who want to try something new with all their friends in their last semester at CC,” said Larson. “Dance Workshop is so beautiful and so important in so many ways.”