This past Friday, the dance company put on a final showcase at Williams Center for the Arts. This showcase is put on each semester and is a culmination of all of the rehearsing and choreography the team has worked on.
Sophomores Kailey Shapiro and Sydney Putera explained that a lot of planning goes into each showcase. This includes coordinating with the Williams Arts Center technicians to reserve the space and work on light and sound, working with student involvement for costuming, coordinating with photographers and creating the programs and posters, and also coordinating with Salsa Club.
“Dress rehearsal takes a lot of planning to make sure everyone gets time to rehearse on the stage with full hair and makeup,” Shapiro said.
“I want to give a shoutout to our club president Amanda Crocker ’23 for how much time and energy she sacrificed for this show to happen and run smoothly,” Putera, who will take on the role of treasurer next year, said.
Each showcase will display somewhere between seven to 10 dances, depending on how many students teach classes each semester. According to Shapiro, this semester there were 12 performances total, including Salsa Club. Shapiro and Putera were each part of five dances, which ranged in styles from lyrical and contemporary to jazz.
In addition to being in the dances, Shapiro and Putera are two of the choreographers.
“Having the opportunity to choreograph was also amazing … [It’s great] to see your vision come to life, but definitely stressful as there’s a lot riding on you as the choreographer,” Shapiro said. “But everyone in the club is open to help and there to offer it whenever anyone needs it.”
Putera choreographed a jazz dance to the song “SOS” by Rihanna. She explained that she participated in two contemporary style dances: senior Nicole Toumanios’ choreography to “Would That I” by Hozier as well as sophomore Camille Gitow’s “Love on the Brain” by Rihanna. She then was part of sophomore Natalie Smith’s lyrical to “Read My Mind” by Lianne La Havas, and freshman Rachel Kimball’s modern to “This is the Walk” by David O’ Dowda.
Shapiro said that the dance company is a great community in which she has met great people.
“I love being on exec and doing the behind-the-scenes work, especially seeing it all come together at the showcase, it’s really rewarding,” Shapiro said. “Overall I’ve loved choreographing and working with dancers of so many backgrounds and skill sets.”
The way the company is set up, dancers can be as committed as they want to be. Those who want to be involved are encouraged to come to one class, or more.
“We release a schedule in the beginning of the semester, and then you can choose how many dances you’d like to be in. Each class is usually one hour per week, so you can choose how much you want to be involved,” Putera said. “We accept people of all dance levels to join us. We support and encourage each other on stage and it overall makes a great environment to be in.”
