On Saturday, April 10, each dance club at Hamilton piled into the dance studio of the Blood Fitness and Dance Center to record their routines with costumes and lights for Student Dance Alliances’s Spring 2021 Student Choreography Show. Leading up to the performance, the dancers, including those of Tap That, HEAT, Trop Sol, Advanced Tap and Dance Team, worked tirelessly to learn routines that student leaders choreographed over winter break. Some students were part of multiple, back-to-back dances, which required quick changes and heavy, costume-filled backpacks. After months of preparation, the dancers were ready to show off their routines. The show’s videographer allowed each dance one take, but the dancers could request another if necessary. The dancers often worked with the videographer to figure out spacing, which helped the recording process go smoothly.
New members of Tap That not only memorized a dance, but they also learned how to tap dance in the process. Each week, they learned a step during warmup, perfected it during across-the-floor, and incorporated it into the routine during practice. By the end of their rehearsals, a group of around twenty dancers with different skill levels performed one routine in unison. In addition, there was a separate group for more advanced tap dancers that practiced each week after Tap That ended. Advanced Tap held extra practices on school days for people struggling with their tap steps and took the time to review the choreography.
The leaders of each club choreographed a dance to a section of Lizzo’s
Juice
, and the show will open with an edited compilation of their skills. Each group recorded a video reacting to a line of the song, and then each group’s E-Board members recorded another video telling the audience that the show is a fundraiser for Outdoor Afro, an organization that champions and encourages the Black community’s connections and experiences in nature. Once anyone donates five dollars or more, SDA would collect the money to give to Outdoor Afro and provide donors a DVD or a Dropbox link to watch the dance show anytime.
There will be a viewing party in the Bradford Auditorium in the Kirner-Johnson building on Saturday, April 17 at 7:00 p.m. Dancers have first priority to an in-person spot, but anyone can watch the performance on Zoom. In a regular year, dancers must peek through the curtains to watch the show, but this COVID-induced format allows them to watch from a comfortable perspective in the audience. They can even watch their own dances, which used to be impossible.
SDA hopes that students support their dancing friends by watching the show, and encourages everyone to donate to Outdoor Afro if they can.