When Dance, Music, and Faith Converge on Stage
Epiphany Dance Company’s Production of "With Love to Orvieto, St. Thomas Aquinas and the Feast of Corpus Christi"
Grete Gryzwana’s work, With Love to Orvieto, St. Thomas Aquinas and the Feast of Corpus Christi, combines all things artistic and Catholic in one inspiring work. Dance, music, visual arts, and theatre present a sweeping history of the Feast of Corpus Christi.
The major historical figures include St. Juliana of Liège, whose visions sparked the establishment of the commemorative feast, Pope Urban IV, who instituted the Solemnity of Corpus Christi in 1264, and Thomas Aquinas, commissioned by Pope Urban to compose the texts for the Liturgical Office. St. Augustine and Aristotle, as advisors to Aquinas, make appearances as well.
The work also references the Eucharistic miracle which occurred in 1263 in Bolsena, near Orvieto, when a priest who doubted the Real Presence, witnessed drops of blood oozing from the consecrated Host. Pope Urban pointedly celebrated the feast of Corpus Christi in Orvieto, where he was residing, and ordered the Corporal from that miracle kept at Orvieto Cathedral.
Dance is the primary medium of With Love, but the work skillfully makes use of music and visual arts. For example, Villa-Lobos’ Ode to the Moon is sung during St. Juliana’s vision and a choir performs Vivaldi’s Gloria in Excelsus at the work’s culmination. Grwyzwana’s photographs of Orvieto’s cathedral provide a backdrop for some of the action.
The Epiphany Dance Company (epiphanydancecompany.org), founded by Gryzwana in 1994, debuted With Love on March 1st and 2nd, 2025 at Holy Family Catholic Church in South Pasadena, California. Members of Epiphany Dance Company performed excerpts of With Love, at the 2025 Retreat for Artists and Art Lovers, hosted by the Benedict XVI Institute (benedictinstitute.org). Gryzwana is currently pursuing opportunities to present With Love at parishes in Las Vegas, Nevada, and California.
With Love to Orvieto, St. Thomas Aquinas and the Feast of Corpus Christi is a work that feeds both faith and the senses. It deserves to be widely known and performed.
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About Grete Gryzwana
Grete Gryzwana is founder, artistic director and principal choreographer of Epiphany Dance Company (epiphanydancecompany.org). Grete’s love of all the arts has been present in her life from her early years. In high school, she played the piano and sang, designed clothes, and developed photography skills. But when she discovered modern dance, she knew she had found her principle medium. She founded the Epiphany Dance Company in 1994 specifically to combine dance with other great works of art, including music, poetry, prose scriptures and the visual arts. She has taught at the School of Nashville Ballet, and Vanderbilt University, and has presented workshops and master classes throughout the U.S.