Video: Mordine & Dance Co. interview

We all dance to the beat of our own drum. But contemporary dancers can even do it in silence.

After I sat in on an entirely silent rehearsal for the Mordine & Co. Dance Theater's latest production, "NEXT 2011," artistic director and company founder Shirley Mordine explained that syncing choreography in the dead quiet is quite common in contemporary dance. So no, they don't even get a "5, 6, 7, 8." And it still looks good.

Ms. Mordine spoke with The DePaulia about the upcoming performance as well as the piece she created for the show entitled LifeSpeak. She uses contemporary dance in her piece to dovetail the trend of storytelling, but instead of using oral language, Ms. Mordine expresses her mode of storytelling in terms of "movement vocabulary."

Catch LifeSpeak and the rest of "NEXT 2011" on Friday and Saturday, April 29 and 30 at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts (discounted tickets are available for students). For more info, check out www.mordine.org.