News Reporter
There can be no doubt that on April 7th, the tap, ballet, and hip-hop performances by Kate Loughlin’s team of outstanding dancers, together with musical performances by the Whimawehs and Milagros, wowed the audience at the Second Annual Dance Company Performance.
The first number, “Attack of the Go-Go Girls,” stunned and thrilled the audience as ten members of the company leapt on stage in brightly colored wigs and costumes and began whirling and flipping. From then on the performances featured ballet on pointe followed by some truly amazing hip-hop numbers. These hip-hop dances included “This is NOT A TEST,” an excellent number by Tora Fisher ‘07 and Gilbert Tetteh ‘08, “There it Go” by Katie Hartsoe ‘06, Annabel Clarance ‘08, Cheyenne Wise ’09, and Erin Turnquest ‘08, and “Drop” performed by Jen Bashian ‘08, Mathilde Williams ‘07, Clarance, Lauren DiMatteo ‘08, Nicole Leung ‘07, and Turnquest. All of these dances had been choreographed by the dancers themselves. Explains dance teacher and director Kate Loughlin, “The dances choreographed by the students are a very important part, too. We wouldn’t have a full concert without their creative vision and hard work.”
Long time dancer Annabel Clarance ‘08 puts it this way, “My favorite part about the dance company is that we are encouraged to make up and teach our own dances. It’s awesome to be able to collaborate and learn from one another!” The night’s string of dances concluded with one final dance called “Music Please,” which opened to eleven girls dancing around with chairs to the Black-Eyed Peas’ fast-paced song “Dum Diddly”. Says viewer Lisa Tengberg ‘09, of this final dance, “I loved it! I loved it!” while Jung Ha Lim ‘09 declares “I loved how they put ballet and hip hop and all these different genres of dance together. One of my favorites was when they danced a fusion of tap and hip-hop (in “There it Go”). I thought that was pretty awesome.”
The audience was lucky to see such a well-planned act, complete with music and lighting all to compliment the dancing, but what they didn’t witness were the long hours of practice and love that went into the project, nor did they see the incredible bond that was forged among the dancers.
The sixth number, “Elevation,” came close as it showed all the girls hugging and lifting one another, in a dance of friendship, love, trust, and the overcoming of obstacles, then culminated with the members of the Dance Company lifting Turnquest high over their heads into an elegant pose in the air! Says Wise of this particular number, “It was definitely the most meaningful dance we did! It was all about overcoming barriers.” And overcome barriers they did, making the tightly knit company “a family, as cheesy as that sounds,” according to Wise, who danced in seven of the eleven numbers. “The Dance Company is a way to share my love of dance with my peers....and have so much fun!” says Clarance, while Loughlin declares it to be filled with “absolutely amazing people. I just love them. They make me laugh all the time in rehearsal. They work incredibly hard, and I so appreciate having them in my life. They are all beautiful, unique, smart, talented individuals who inspire me all the time.” She also agrees that, “[The dance company,] like anything you love to do, and work hard at, is rewarding.”
Clarance and Hartsoe also say, “it doesn’t feel like work because we love it so much” and “we have a blast at every rehearsal.”
