Student Multimedia Dance Production Explores Emotion, Technology and Transformation

Photo credit: Jada Duffus

By Jada Duffus

Through careful sound design, experimental media and live performance, Lehman students’ production of Woven: Discarded and Reborn combined storytelling and technology to create an immersive experience that explored themes of internal struggle and personal transformation at the Studio Theatre on May 15, 2026.

The title performance, created by Janee Best-Chapman, Shydae Hampton and Krismarie Loague, depicted self-doubt and emotional healing in the face of discouragement. Loague talked about how she brainstormed ideas with Best-Chapman and Hampton, drawing inspiration from the real-life experiences they shared with one another.

“There were many personal experiences that my group and I pulled from for this,” Loague said. “This piece was not only meant to call out those bad experiences but also to highlight the choice we have to be reborn and overcome, especially when we come together and help one another out to reach our full potential.”

Loague tied the message behind “discarded and reborn” to overcoming criticism and finding one’s own self-worth, personal growth, and redemption. “We often find ourselves being tossed to the side and discarded, allowing others' words to count us out,” Loague said. “Similarly, as baptism is seen as this rebirth of the spirit, we can choose to pick ourselves up and become reborn.”

Multimedia Performing Arts students perform the pieces they choreographed.
Photo credit: Jada Duff us

“I felt free in both mind and body in that moment.” – Lehman student and dancer Janee Best-Chapman

For dancer Janee Best-Chapman, one of the biggest challenges was balancing the emotional themes of the production while performing. “The most emotionally challenging part was trying not to be consumed by the negative words we used as our audio,” Best-Chapman said.

“A moment that felt especially personal was my recording. I hear all the negative things you have said about me.’ I wrote that after one person that I thought would always be in my corner went behind my back and said completely different things to other people.”

Monica Duncan, an assistant professor in Lehman College’s Department of Music, Multimedia, Theater and Dance, explained, “the Multimedia Performing Arts Projects is an annual showcase of final capstone projects created by students in the BFA in Multimedia Performing Arts program. Students work in teams to create the overall concept and write, direct, choreograph, and perform original multimedia performances.”

The creative process for the Devised Multimedia Performance class began in the fall semester when students explored collaborative storytelling techniques. In the spring semester, they

finalized the script, sound design, technical elements, and choreography before presenting the finished project on stage. For instance, Duncan explained, “students explored video projection mapping on multiple surfaces and spatial audio.”

The showcase also emphasized the importance of collaboration within multimedia arts. Students blended their own artistic strengths in visual design, sound, choreography, and storytelling to create performances that reflects both universal emotional struggles along with personal experiences such as healing, vulnerability, and connection that many young adults face daily.

Best-Chapman said, “My favorite part was my solo moment because it felt nice to be able to improve my moves without overthinking it too much,” she said. “I felt free in both mind and body in that moment.”