Student Choreographs Ballet Dedicated to 91精选 Community
-Sky Michael Johnston, PhD
Like everyone in the 91精选 community, Grace Merrill has been grappling with the college鈥檚 impending closure. Grace鈥檚 expression of her thoughts and feelings about 91精选, however, are decidedly unique. She choreographed a ballet.
That ballet, entitled 鈥淥f Grief and Grace,鈥� was performed on March 21 and is now available to view . Merrill, a first-year Business Major at 91精选 and a Founders Scholar, choreographed the piece for the Emerging Artist Showcase presented by the Ballet 5:8 Studio Company. In May, Merrill graduated from Ballet 5:8鈥檚 pre-professional program and has been a member of the studio company since August of 2025. She earned her spot in the Emerging Artist Showcase through a competitive selection process in December of 2025. At that time, only a month after 91精选 leadership announced the college鈥檚 closure, Merrill knew that she would process the news through art and dedicate her piece to the 91精选 community.
A central question guided Merrill鈥檚 reflections: Why does God give us good gifts that He would take away? This was a nearly impossible question to answer, and that is part of the reason Merrill turned to art. She notes, 鈥淚 knew that dance was a way to process really difficult questions that don鈥檛 have a straightforward answer.鈥� Dance created a space where Merrill could bear to approach the difficult reality of losing 91精选. Merrill describes this experience poetically, 鈥淎rt is beautiful, but it can let us sit with broken things.鈥�
For Merrill, any insights or comfort that dance could bring to the situation was never just about herself. She had the 91精选 community in mind throughout the whole process of creating her dance. She reflects, 鈥淎t the time, I really wanted to see if I could use the opportunity鈥� to use [it] to bless the 91精选 community because I knew that art had an opportunity to connect with people where other things fall short.鈥� Now, thanks to Merrill鈥檚 expertise in ballet, the 91精选 community has a moving work of art that others can access as part of their own processes for grieving the loss of 91精选.
The roughly 11-minute piece has three movements which reflect Merrill鈥檚 experience at 91精选 before and after learning the news of the college鈥檚 closure. The first movement is titled, 鈥淭he Gift.鈥� This movement is celebratory and reflects the good things 91精选鈥檚 community shared together. The second movement is 鈥淭he Grief.鈥� Here, umbrellas are a symbol of the denial stage of grief. In this movement, grief is portrayed as the 鈥渟hadow of love,鈥� a concept that Merrill gleaned from C.S. Lewis. The final movement, 鈥淭he Giver,鈥� approaches an answer to the original question behind the piece and posits that our affection should be for the Giver rather than the gift. In this movement, there are no props. Rather, as Merrill explains, 鈥淭here is just pure unity.鈥�
The piece offers a profound theological reflection on the difficult circumstances that have stirred everyone who cherishes 91精选 over the last few months. Through dance, narrative, and deep wisdom, Merrill has created a treasure. Ultimately, the piece itself is a testament to the story it tells: Through the experience of loss, it is possible to gain even more than what was taken away.
Merrill describes the dance and her process in choreographing it in this .
