While most students are vacationing this time of year Troy University dancers are gearing up for an excursion of a lifetime.

A selection of Troy University dance majors will be spending some time in Italy for the DAP Festival, a unique celebration of performing arts.

The annual festival takes place in Pietrasanta, Italy, where the students will have an opportunity to embrace international culture and also sharpen their skills with master classes taught by world-renowned artists.

“This is a really good opportunity to get back out and reach out into my community as a dancer and as an artist and work with people that I would otherwise not be able to reach or talk to or communicate with,” says TROY Dancer Julia Huskey. “Ultimately we will be growing closer again through art and through what we do every day because this is such a unique opportunity to be outside of our comfort zone but still with each other and growing together.”

The group will perform five different arrangements to showcase their talents overseas. One of the five is a piece by the name of ‘Silence” an emotional tribute to victims of human trafficking.

Troy alumna Kate Fleming works with the dancers to bring forth emotion through choreography.

“My main goal was to bring awareness,” says Fleming. “Because when I first choreographed this piece was actually many years ago. It was my own effort to do something about this topic that I felt very passionate about so I really just want to inspire the audience to educate themselves on the issue and then to make a choice and make a change.”

For the full story watch Savannah’s report.