Two Ohio State students will take center stage 8 p.m. today through Saturday at Sullivant Theatre in a performance full of nonstop dancing and intense communicative movement that uses the body as a voice and challenges the idea of identity.

Elisha T. Clark and danah bella, master’s of fine arts candidates in the department of dance, present “…and then there’s us” in partial fulfillment of their degrees. The production is a year-long culmination of collaborative works that deal with issues surrounding the body and incorporate modern dance styles as well as west African movements.

“The performance will comprise of a lot of dancing,” Clark said. “Modern dance means a lot of things. There are different styles and gestures and physical activity such as running and jumping along with many ways to see body movement.”

Clark will be investigating identity and how it changes throughout performance, and bella will be focusing on body poetics, object, subject and dialectic through performance, bella said.

Both women are no strangers to performing and have had lots of experience dancing that contributes to their ability to connect with the audience. bella (who doesn’t capitalize her name) has been dancing for 20 years, since she was 7. Clark was a part of National Ballet for six years and began studying modern dance at 19.

Bebe Miller, professor in the College of the Arts, has been working with Clark and bella for about three years, ever since they came to study at OSU. She has worked with them in technique class and creative ways.

“Both women are excellent performers, but they are different from each other,” Miller said. “They have an idiosyncratic individuality that is refreshing. Elisha has a direct open gaze and the audience can really feel what she is thinking. Through danah’s gestures, her inner landscape comes out in an energetic way.”

Valarie Mockabee, assistant professor in the College of Arts, has also worked with the women. She serves as chairwoman for Clark’s committee and is a member of bella’s committee. She agrees they are both accomplished performers who work collaboratively and beautifully together.

“The performance flows nicely, it almost seems seamless,” Mockabee said. “Their interludes and introduction melt the piece together.”

There are seven different works in the show with an emphasis on performance and a variety of movement. Each dancer will perform a solo that incorporates different roles. The solos range from an urban setting to a traditional modern dance setting.

“They are combining the undertones of how ethnicity and race affect how they view themselves as performers and how the audience views them as performers,” Mockabee said.

Clark discussed the physical obstacles she had to overcome to prepare for her role in the performance. She said it is always an obstacle when someone else choreographs the dancing because she has to take the material through to her body. Interpreting those emotions in a way where she can be honest with herself and give out those expressions so the audience can get a true sense of her being can be a challenge.

“I have to deal with why I feel compelled to use my body to express my emotions instead of writing or singing,” Clark said.

Attendees can look forward to experiencing the full force of the dancers’ personalities and seeing themselves through the dancers’ work.

“The performance will project a lot of kinetic information and continuous dancing,” bella said. “In a lot of shows, there are many pauses but what is unique about our performance is there will be no pauses – just straight dancing.”

After completing her undergraduate study at the University of California at Santa Barbara, coming to OSU was a culture shock for bella. As a Filipino woman, she noticed diversity in Ohio was not as apparent as in California, but as her time at OSU winds down, she is glad to have had the opportunity to study at the university.

“It has been a difficult journey, and I have established somewhat of a love-hate relationship with the university,” bella said.

Between Clark’s busy schedule and the demands of the dance program, she has had a great learning experience and said she wouldn’t have gone to any other graduate school.

“I have grown so much as a dancer and an artist at OSU, and I want this performance to demonstrate that,” Clark said. “I also want my performance to serve as a ‘thank you’ to all my advisers and choreographers for working with me over the years.”

Clark and bella are uncertain about future plans but say they will most likely teach dance classes at a university.