TWU Dance, UNT Music join forces

Nov. 20, 2025 — DENTON — The TWU Dance Division and the University of North Texas Music Department celebrated their joint Composer Choreographer Collaboration Course with a concert on the UNT campus.

The annual interdisciplinary and experiential initiative brings together TWU Dance MFA students and UNT Music PhD, masters and BA students each fall to explore the creative possibilities of sound and movement. The culminating concert at UNT’s Merrill Ellis Intermedia Theatre combined original choreography and music compositions. For the show, UNT installed a Marley floor, a vinyl dance surface known for its combination of grip and slip resistance.

The program is organized by TWU’s Sarah Gamblin and UNT’s Sungji Hong.

“I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate with a music artist in building a new world together,” said Martha Limones, first-year TWU MFA in Dance student. “It feels like a piece that can stand on its own both as a composition and as choreography, yet becomes something even more compelling when the two merge. Through steady communication, we found new pathways and learned how to approach tasks in ways that supported each other. Overall, it was a meaningful collaboration where we both took creative risks and are genuinely happy with the result.”

“This project is the most fulfilling piece I have created during my time at UNT,” said composer Anderson Kurk. “Working on it revealed several essential pieces of who I am as a composer.”

"For me, dance and music have always been worlds that often coexist but never truly collide in the way that they did for this collaboration,” said Arianna Douglas, TWU MFA in Dance student. “It was incredibly valuable that I could interact with the composer and, therefore, the music in a way that isn’t possible with the preset music I’m used to working with. This experience was very new to me and yet so informative in allowing me to find my own artistry within the music created in tandem with the choreography by my collaborative composer William Bender. The opportunity to shape the work together from its inception has fundamentally changed how I approach my creative process.”

“I’m feeling quite proud of the project,” UNT’s George McGuinness said. “Despite last-minute changes, the dancers adapted beautifully.”

In 2020, the partnership between TWU’s Chely Jones and UNT’s Raja Varun produced PARADOX, selected for the American College Dance Association Virtual Screendance Festival. By 2023, the collaboration fostered an atmosphere of joy and artistic play. “This has been a really fun piece to work on,” UNT’s Ian Callard said. “Getting to mess around and make something fun has been a nice experience, and definitely something I should do more often.”

This year’s works included the following:

Fatigue / Motion
Choreographer: Hailey Regenbrecht
Composer: Anderson Kurk

Diferentes Flores de un Mismo Ramo
Choreographer: Arianna Douglas
Composer: William Bender

Beneath the Equilibrium
Choreographer: Martha Limones
Composer: Cheuk Shing “Sampson” Li

Red Thread
Choreographer: Caroline Slayton
Composer: Jacob Lord

I Hate the Mirror
Choreographer: Tyreana Handley
Composer: Simón Ramírez

Evergreen
Choreographer: Briana Chapa
Composer: J.D. Fuller

In This Radiant Horizon
Choreographer: Professor Sarah Gamblin
Composer: Yoonjae Choi

Seashell Silbato
Choreographer: Nya Brazier
Composer: Sabren Espinosa 

X
Choreographer: Adrienne Sherice
Composer: Yimin Pang

Integrity (what my hands can hold)
Choreographer: Marie Finley
Composer: George McGuinness