THE FIRST PATIENT |
Tessa Palisoc and Andrew Murdock

“Many physicians view human dissection as the beginning of their journey in medicine, regarding the donor body as their “first patient.” In the anatomy lab, students confront death in the medical field with mixed emotions. They negotiate the boundary between seeing the donor body as an object and a person. Meanwhile, for donors and their families, the donation is a vulnerable experience: a final act of autonomy. This dance explores this complex relationship, illustrating themes of gratitude, giving, and personhood. The duet features one dancer representing the donor body, and the other a medical student. The dance uses contact improvisation, a technique featuring weight sharing, touch, and movement awareness.”

"Music: Sleeping at Last. “West.”

Tessa Palisoc and Andrew Murdock are MD candidates at Drexel University College of Medicine (DUCOM), where they participate in the Medical Humanities Scholar Track. They are members of the DUCOM dance club Impulse where they serve as board members. Murdock is a Bates College graduate with a Biochemistry major and Dance minor. Collegiately he trained in contact improvisation, modern, and postmodern dance styles. Palisoc studied contact improvisation, Mande dance, and aerial arts and acrobatics for 4 years at Brown University, where she earned an Sc.B. in immunobiology.