Our own Professor Lucille Toth will host a performance through her OnBoard(hers) group, an organization dedicated to expressing immigrant experiences through dance. If you are interested in attending or performing, please reach out to Professor Toth.297@osu.edu to learn more. More information is also available through the organization website.
Started in 2018 by dance scholar Lucille Toth, On Board(hers) is a contemporary dance project that brings to life the experiences and testimonies of immigrants through movement. In each workshop, participants delve into the richness of global mobility while unpacking the complex power dynamics and tensions that shape migration. Through storytelling and embodied practice, they create gestures that reflect their personal journeys, transforming lived experiences into dance.
From January to April 2025, a new group of participants meets weekly to collaborate and share their immigration stories through movement. These individuals hail from countries including Algeria, China, Estonia, Mexico, Peru, Russia, Somalia, Turkey, Venezuela, and beyond. Together, they will craft a collective choreography that honors their unique paths while fostering a supportive, creative community.
Over the past six years, Lucille Toth has facilitated approximately fifty workshops, engaging with around 200 immigrants from diverse cultural backgrounds. On Board(hers) has brought dance to unexpected spaces, from art galleries and dance studios to virtual sessions on Zoom, abandoned hospitals, vacant buildings, women’s shelters at the Mexico-U.S. border, and basketball courts repurposed as refugee camps in southern France. The project has also graced major venues such as the Wexner Center for the Arts, OSU’s Urban Arts Space, and the Beeler Gallery, and has been featured at various community events, including a TEDx talk at The Ohio State University in February 2019.
On Board(hers) continues to explore the intersections of dance, identity, and migration, building bridges across borders and communities through the power of movement.
