Students showcased their talents Monday at “The Last Dance,” an end of the year performance hosted by the dance department.

The event featured five separate performances, with choreography by sophomore Sammy Wong and sophomore Komal Thakkar, a former Hatchet reporter. The event also featured an independent study dance solo by senior Molly Berger, and performances by professor Maida Withers’s Movement Improvisation class and five students from her advanced modern technique class.

The first performance of the night, “Meaning Making Creatures,” was held outside in the park next to the Fishbowl. Wong choreographed the 10-minute dance as part of his independent study.

In preparation for the dance, Wong observed primates and took note of their movements, as the dance was centered on the concept of evolution. The dancers imitated the primates to demonstrate the progression of movement.

“We’re always learning about movement created by man,” Shannon O’Brien, a freshman, said.  “It was interesting to learn about more natural movement.”

The dancers then moved inside Building J for the next set of performances, which began with improvisation by Withers’s Movement Improvisation class. The dancers performed entirely in the dark, with the exception of a few flashlights and glow sticks.

Freshman Kathleen O’Neill said the class worked all semester on different techniques to help improve on their improvisation skills.

“It was a lot of fun to just feel the music and be really open to take risks,” O’Neill said.