50 Years of Dance

Over the last 50 years, the study of dance at Williams has grown from a small program into a full department. Celebrating this momentous milestone, Sandra Burton, the Lipp Family Director of Dance and senior lecturer in dance, organized Dance from the Beginning: Early Days of Dance at Williams, an exhibition of archival photographs capturing major dance events from the late 1970s and early 1980s.

On view in Special Collections’ Schow Gallery for the spring 2025 semester, the exhibition was curated by staff members Jessika Drmacich and Rebecca Wolfe. Students, alumni and faculty also contributed by writing captions for image labels. “These images,” Burton writes of the exhibit, “lift up the joy and creativity of individuals and groups that form the foundation of what is now the department.”

Photographs courtesy of Williams Archives and Special Collections