The Unity Dance Troupe was founded in January 2010 by Alexis Ziarkowski, a senior at Lee who has been dancing for 11 years. “I started Unity as a dance ministry because I felt that a lot of people love to dance but they think they can’t. It was my goal to show people that they had it in them to dance.”
The mission behind Unity works to instigate change through the power of a faith-based initiative. As a professional dancer, Ziarkowski was tired of seeing aesthetic productions devoid of powerful themes.
Ziarkowski wants to see her dancers and audiences depart Unity company’s performances with an identity based in love. Ziarkowski said, “From there, from that place of freedom and healing, [to] go and bring healing to our audience. Not just in theatrical terms but in our everyday interactions.”
Unity will perform an original choreography, “Rescued,” a story about human sex trafficking. Ziarkowski’s desire to see people freed from all types of slavery prompted efforts to publicize the injustice of human sex trafficking and to bring faces to all the men and women who are prisoners.
The performance is free of charge and open to the public. For more information about “Rescued” or the Unity Dance Troupe, please contact Ziarkowski at 423-507-4601 or email alexis.ziarkowski@gmail.com.
