On Friday, April 30th and Saturday, May 1st, the Orchesis Dance Company held their annual performance. This year’s theme was “Synergy,” which was in relation to the idea behind their opening dance “Chase.”
The show featured twenty dances, some involving the entire company, and some involving only a couple dancers. The different pieces and respective music varied in style, length, and choreography.
While some dances, such as “Fuse” and “Cuckoo,” have been performed at other shows, most of the dances were new to the Orchesis stage. One crowd favorite was “Here’s to Silence,” which featured live music, with Junior Clara Shaw singing, and Freshman Stephanie Wolff on piano.
The show was considered a success by all who were involved in the production. Orchesis director Mindy Haines said, “Synergy was a great, well-rehearsed dance concert with an awesome bunch of girls who are very supportive of one another. I’m proud to be their director and thankful for such great students.”
Senior dancer Danielle Kovack said, “The show went extremely well, I was so impressed with all the girls and their quick changes. I feel that this year’s show was full of variety and that’s something the audience really wanted us to provide this year.”
Student choreography is highlighted each year in the Orchesis show. Most of the dances are choreographed by the seniors of the company; however other students are given the opportunity to showcase their creative talent. This year, one of the dances choreographed by senior Natalie Godlewski, was chosen to be performed at this year’s state dance festival as an example of the best Illinois student choreography.
Haines said, “I enjoy watching my student’s personality come out in their choreography. I am specifically proud of Kayla Muldoon, Hannah Langosch and Louise Gangware. For example, Louise is a soft, gentle, sincere human being and her dance was kind, sweet and genuinely cheerful. It was fun to watch Louise choreograph her first dance. It is great to watch all the dancers have a vision and see them develop it into a successful dance.”
The seniors are always a big part of the Orchesis show, both as mentors and more experienced leaders. When asked about being a senior, Lauren DeRosier said, “Being on stage as a senior was awesome. I remember when I was a freshman I looked up to the seniors so much. It was so cool knowing that now people were looking up to me and getting inspired by my dancing. I also loved being able to do the senior dance with all my other senior ladies.”
Kovack said, “I honestly gave the audience and the dancers every bit of energy and passion that I had for those two nights. I wanted to leave the stage knowing I made an imprint in someone’s life.”
Haines made it clear she will miss this year’s seniors, adding, “I will miss them all terribly. I loved how each dancer wore the costume from that dance that was most memorable to them or me.”
The company’s closing dance “Bad Romance,” performed to the tune of Bad Romance by Lady Gaga took the crowd by surprise when the lights rose and all the dancers had zombie-esque makeup plastered over their faces. The dance also involved dancers being off stage and close to the audience.
Kovack, who choreographed the dance, said, “The finale was a big hit as I’ve heard. It really caught the eyes of all ages I would say. Lady Gaga is an upcoming artist that everyone knows and I wanted to create a theme that nobody would have thought of to go with this song. We ended Synergy with a bang!”
The shows were well attended, and the audience was very attentive to the performances. DeRosier said she would consider it the highlight of the show, stating, “The audience was so great; I can’t even get over it. I choreographed ‘Play it on the Radio’ and it was so fun to see the audience really get into the piece.”
The Orchesis show is the last major dance performance of this year. The returning girls will be hard at work for next year’s shows.
“I would like to give a big thanks to all the Orchesis dancers for great memories that I will forever cherish,” added DeRosier.
