The summers that Elisa Harkins (Modern Dance ’94, ’95, ’96) spent at Quartz Mountain opened her up to a side of dance that she calls “more cerebral”—full of storytelling and Greek mythology. In her work today as an artist and composer, Harkins preserves the histories, lesser-told stories and languages of her Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee ancestors, often employing sculpture, animation, dance, sound design and film.
She’s re-composed and performed hymns—protest songs in disguise—that were...
