Radiance Dance Theater gave an incredible display of group effort on March 18 in Strong Auditorium. Their show, entitled “Some Days You Just Gotta Dance,” encompassed jazz, ballet, tap, lyrical and even hip-hop dance. The song selection included artists from Mozart to Norah Jones to Fabolous. The group also showcased many different ability levels. They successfully incorporated dancers with little experience into dances choreographed by very experienced dancers. Overall, the show was a treat for the audience.
Some highlights of the night included a dance to Jamie Cullum’s “Twentysomething.” The song, choreographed by junior Stephanie Roberts, is very appropriate for a college audience and lends itself nicely to integrating a variety of genres.
“We had a lot of big group numbers and I wanted to switch it up a little, so I included four solos,” Roberts said. It started with a ballet duet and then went on to include jazz and tap.
Roberts also performed an excellent solo jazz dance to the Counting Crows’ “Accidentally in Love.”
“[Individual and small-group numbers] give the other dancers time to rest or change their costumes,” Roberts said. “They also allow dancers to showcase what their strengths are as a dancer because you can put in things that you can’t put in a group dance.”
Senior Emilia Nymander and junior Mallory Olschowka gave a very well-rehearsed and synchronized performance to Prince’s “Thieves in the Temple,” which they also choreographed.
One of the most interesting dances of the show was performed to Maroon 5’s “Not Coming Home,” choreographed by junior Jari Greenbaum. The combination of rock/funk music and jazz dancing made for an intriguing number.
Another number that featured an interesting collaboration was the bhangra tap medley. For this dance, Radiance invited the men’s Bhangra Team to co-choreograph and perform a variation of a traditional bhangra dance. Radiance dancers tapped through this piece instead of adopting the traditional woman’s role. This number was high-energy and definitely an audience favorite.
The mostly jazz dancers of Radiance also went out on a limb and performed a hip-hop dance to Missy Elliott’s “Gossip Folk,” which proved to be entertaining. Senior and Radiance President Heather Weisner choreographed the number.
“Over the past few years, we have been trying to diversify our selection of dance numbers that we choreograph,” she said. “We really enjoy trying new genres of dance and incorporating them into the Radiance repertoire.”
Overall, “Some Days You Just Gotta Dance” offered something for everyone. The mixture of different styles of music and dance, along with the different ability levels, made for an entertaining show.
“I believe the show was a great success for us this year,” Weisner said. “We are a very small group, and so putting together a show comprised of 19 dances with only around 15 members is something I consider to be a good accomplishment for Radiance.”
Geswein can be reached at hgeswein@campustimes.org.
