Power, joy, peace and freedom are just some of the words evoked by local dancers of all ages in a recent video encouraging people to vote.

The video features youth dancers from Art in Motion, an Easthampton dance company, and The Williston Northampton School, as well as their family members and people from the community. The project was a collaboration between Art in Motion and the Travel with Purpose Pact that aims to create excitement and encourage people to vote on Election Day. 

“We wanted to get as many dancers involved as possible, because dance is a social art form at its core,” said Noel St. Jean-Chevalier, the co-owner of Art in Motion and director of dance for The Williston Northampton School. “So we felt like getting community members to move and to use dance as a tool for social action was a really important thing to be involved in.”

The video aims to encourage people to vote in western Massachusetts and beyond. It has been shared on social media and sent to friends and family around the country. For the children in the video, who can’t vote, their performance and participation provided them with another avenue of civic engagement.

“They are future voters. So seeing them be involved, and having them look at the adults in the room and say, ‘you get to do this, not just for you, but for me,’ and seeing the adults say, ‘I’m interested, I’m involved, and this is important,’ means that these kids see this example being set for them,” said St. Jean-Chevalier.

“It sets a great example for our kids that we care about their future and we have a responsibility to them and to our community to get our voice heard,” said April Igneri, who performed in the video with her two kids Liliana, 12, and Luca, 9, who dance at Art in Motion. “I think it’s important to show the multiple generations and to think about how voting affects all of us.”

Art in Motion previously partnered with the Travel with Purpose Pact, a western Mass.-based initiative that encourages sustainable travel, to produce a similar video in 2020, which was done virtually. This year, the Travel with Purpose Pact brought the idea of making another video “being loud” about the importance of voting to Art in Motion, and they were happy to participate.

Throughout September, there were open rehearsals at Nonotuck Park for anyone interested in being involved. They filmed for one day at Open Square in Holyoke, performing the different choreographies and working their way through the shot list. The kids were instrumental in making the video, both as dancers, and behind the scenes; the Williston School film club did the videography and editing for the video.

“Art in Motion did a great job making choreography that even I could do, and they had more advanced choreography for the dancers,” said Igneri. “I love dancing, but I just thought they really did a great job making it accessible for us.”

Igneri said she loves getting her kids involved in community projects, and that doing the video also encourages them to think about their own futures. The video was put on YouTube on Oct. 27, just before the end of early voting in Massachusetts on Nov. 1. 

“A lot of people are kind of stuck in their ways, or they might feel disillusioned by our election this season, and we just hope that seeing that one small community can get together and galvanize around this could be in some way motivational or inspiring,” said St. Jean-Chevalier. “Ultimately, we hope it inspires people to vote. We hope that people see that the youth are ignited and inspired, and they want us that have the power to vote to get out there.”