Arts

Dance Lab: Elegant and Powerful Dances

Stong beats of echoing music accompanied elegant student dancers in the Dance Lab last Friday in Tang Theater. The Dance Lab included five pieces and started with Brianna Barros ’12 dancing to Otis Reading’s “These Arms of Mine.” Barros’s smooth moves matched the bluesy tunes of the song. Barros said in an e-mail to The Phillipian, “I think my performance went well, but the more I perform the better I get.” Scott MacDonald ’15 and Jorge Piccole ’14 followed with a dance to Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness.” In contrast to Barros’s elegant style, the choreography of the dance was contemporary and robot-like. “There was a sort of story to the piece: robots that try to regain their human sides,” said Piccole in an e-mail to The Phillipian. “We used the lyrics and cadence of the song to map our movements,” he continued Piccole said he worked with MacDonald, and both dancers contributed to the variety of moves in the dance. The audience’s eyes followed Suzanne Wang ’13 as she danced across the stage to Adele’s “Someone Like You.” Her light and graceful moves corresponded to Adele’s piano melody. “I was really inspired by Adele’s music,” said Wang, “[‘Someone Like You’] is a great song, and I really felt the emotion in her voice.” Ali Hill ’15, Kristen Overly ’15 and Evie Elson ’15 collaboratively choreographed and performed the next song, “Mama Do the Hump” by Rizzle Kicks. The three dancers synchronized their dance moves to the rhythmic hip-hop beats of the song. “I was inspired to make a dance to the song because I heard it on the radio and thought it was a great dance song with a good beat,” said Elson in an e-mail to The Phillipian. Audience member Charlie Jarvis ’15 said, “I really liked Evie, Ali and Kristen’s performance because of their original dance moves and choreography.” The last performer, Emily Ewing ’14, danced to “God’s Gonna Cut you Down” by Johnny Cash. Shannon Callahan ’12 choreographed the dance, which featured original moves that fit the country-style music. “The song is a really famous one and I really liked the beat. It also has a really haunting melody. … I’m really inspired by music, so [my choreography] all comes from the song for me,” said Callahan. The show received an enthusiastic applause. Audience members credited the Dance Lab’s success to the wide variety of pieces incorporated in the show. Barros said, “I think everyone who performed had awesome choreography and really pushed themselves as dancers and choreographers.”