What will survive 5,000 years from now? Maybe this Columbia choreographer’s dance

At a quiet, empty Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College last month, Terrance Henderson led a small group of dancers through choreography, snapping his fingers and counting out steps.

“You’re walking, and you’re walking. Yes, now scrape that earth,” he said, as the dancers folded over toward the floor with outstretched arms.

They moved fluidly across the stage, dragging one foot, then lifting a knee, pushing the air away from them with their hands. Henderson watched intently, hair piled in a high bun atop his head and long T-shirt billowing around him as he directed.

After a technical glitch stopped the music temporarily, Henderson gathered his dancers at center stage to regroup.

“Let’s all take a deep breath together,” he said. “Ahhhhhh. That felt good. Do another one.”

Henderson’s show, “Ruins,” will premiere Saturday, Feb. 27 at Harbison Theatre. The dance-theatre project is part of the HT@MTC Performance Incubator, which fosters the growth of professional performing arts talent in the Midlands by helping local artists launch nationally touring productions. Henderson was selected as this year’s Incubator artist and received a production budget of $10,000 for set-building, costumes and performer salaries; marketing resources; rehearsal space and professional guidance from Harbison Theatre for “Ruins.”

Henderson said ancient Egypt was his inspiration for the piece.

“They have 5,000-year-old ruins that are still standing, that we can walk into today. What things are going to be that sound four- or five-thousand years from now?”

That got Henderson thinking about legacy, and what we leave behind when we’re gone.

“It’s about if any of that matters, and ultimately, what does matter?” he said.

“Ruins” uses digital imagery, text, movement, sound and theatrical elements to explore that question. There are six dancers and three actor/singers in the show, including Henderson.

In addition to rehearsing three times a week, Henderson and his dancers watch films together, read books together and look at art pieces together, he said. “I try to fill my dancers with lots of inspiration. If I empower the artists who are presenting the work, they are going to then empower the audiences.”

After studying musical theater at the University of South Carolina, Henderson won the Bronze Leo for Outstanding Jazz Choreography at the Jazz Dance World Congress in 2009, then founded the semi-annual Dimensions: South Carolina Contemporary Dance Festival. Before founding his own company, T.O. Henderson Dance Incorporated, Henderson served as the artistic director at Vibrations Dance Company.

Although he’s been working as a dancer and choreographer in South Carolina for nearly 20 years, Henderson said the Incubator is the first time he’s had so much support for a creative work.

“It validates me as a professional that I can present work in my own community and have it supported financially,” he said. “It really frees me up creatively, and I’m really thankful to the incubator for that.”

Catch “Ruins” for one night only – Saturday, Feb. 27 at Harbison Theatre – before it hits the road on tour.

This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 9:42 AM.