Group Fights Violence With Dance at ETHS [VIDEO]

After a string of shooting deaths near Evanston Township High School, a local dance group is hoping they can fight violence through a series of workshops this spring. 

“Our theme this year is nonviolence, based on what has happened in our town and in our world,” says Melinda Segal, director of the Kids Can Dance alumni group.

Segal is organizing the dance workshops in conjunction with Ten Thousand Ripples, an art project that will place ten Buddha sculptures around the city as a means of  promoting peace.

Students got a preview of the group’s style at the high school Thursday, when the Kids Can Dance Alumni group performed in the auditorium. They were joined by actress, former Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre artistic director and 1997 ETHS grad Ebony Joy, who talked about the importance of kindness in the face of evil.

“I like to think of evil as an object, like a bracelet,” Joy said. 

“Every time we have an evil thought—or we have a bracelet on our arm—and we say something to someone else, we pass on that evil,” she continued. “But that one little insult might be the thing that totally breaks your arm.”