Means, the Spring Dance Concert to end the 2018-2019 Theatre and Dance Season, took place on Friday and Saturday, April 26 and 27. And, it was really fun.

The show consisted of two acts and seven total performances. The first performance in Act I, titled the power of the she, was created by generating responses that the dancers felt pertained to the representation of women in dance. It was meant to get the audience to think about women in dance, and what they treasured, loved, honored and detested. I thought it was all about fluidity. 

The entire first dance, performed to the song Lullaby for Little Spoon, reminded me of flying, moving from the ground to the sky, with the dancers gracefully arcing around the stage to the gentle rhythm of drums and piano with a few jazz chords thrown in. I need to see if the videographer has a recording of the dance, I really want to watch it again. 

While the first performance was great, my singular favorite one had to be the opening of Act II, titled Quake.

The stage reminded me of a cult gathered for a moonlight ritual; dancers, clothed in red jackets with the hoods obscuring their faces, stared collectively downward at a single dancer convulsing on the ground. A stage light acted as a beam of moonlight, barely shining through the smoke coalescing around the stage.

The song playing throughout the performance was called Gyroscope, setting an unsettling drum beat. The dancers joined the convulsing person on the ground, while feral noises permeating from Gyroscope. A cacophony of bodies in red and black, shifting without pattern on the ground, was truly a bizarre sight.

However, the most bizarre part was seeing the mood take a dramatic shift when the new track Popular Side took over, every dancer got to their feet. The scene reminded me of the zombie dance scene from Thriller. Definitely my favorite piece.

Two of the other performances, Troubled Watersand Shut up and Dancefrom Act I can only be described as sassy and loud, with many of the dancers eliciting cheers from the audience.

At the end of the show, the bows of the cast turned into a dance party as the curtains closed. I thought the entire show was a joy to watch and was neither too long nor too short. Congratulations to Director Amanda Benzin and her students.