Hypnotiq, Andover’s premiere hip-hop dance crew, focuses on telling stories through dance.
“We’ve done stories from ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ to interpretations of urban street life. I think that’s the way we best connect with the audience. We find something to dance with or for and it gives the audience and us a certain link and anticipation… Our dances have all the elements of a story too, a conflict, climax and solution.” said Thomi Pamplin ’14, Head of Hypnotiq. “It’s amazing actually creating a plot line to each our dances, it adds more to the choreography and gives us more to dance with.”
Throughout the year, the group has been adding small skits to their dance numbers, and they are currently working on a number about a day in the life of a typical Andover student, with a little bit of added spunk.
Hypnotiq’s first “story-dance” was at last year’s Dance Open, where they performed a dance based on Romeo and Juliet, which starred Robert Rush ’14 and Jada Sanchez ’15 and incorporated battle scenes as well as romance.
The dance group shined at this year’s Dance Open, where they performed to 90s old-school hip-hop, as well as the Relay for Life, where they brought their enthusiasm to a more serious event. At Grasshopper Night, they dressed as dwarves and performed “Snow White, Girl!” a dance choreographed to a mash-up of the classic Walt Disney song “Hi-Ho,” “White Girl” by E-40 and “Gold Digger” by Kanye West.
Pamplin said Hypnotiq has become a crucial part of her Andover experience.
“I really loved putting my time and effort into this group, and it helped me become really creative. Picking the right movements to a song is hard, and I used to overthink it. Now I go with intuition,” said Pamplin.
The group hopes to recruit members with different styles to maintain its diversity.
“We have always changed up [our] style. With every new head, they bring something new to the table. Our styles have ranged from rap to 90s hip hop, and it is definitely a lot of fun to dance to different styles and get a new perspective,” said Pamplin.
Pamplin hopes to the group’s tight-knit community will continue after she graduates.
“From figuring out people’s signature dance moves to just sitting around in a circle and talking about our feelings, Hypnotiq has been a great comfort for me. I think I’m most appreciative the weekend of a show, by then there’s no more choreography to teach or make. Everyone has their costume and makeup and more. We’re all just ready to show the world what we can do and I think that’s when everyone feels most inspired,” said Pamplin.
