JORDYN HOLKA
Reverb Editor
This past weekend, Orchesis, Fredonia’s popular student-run dance group, put on its fall showcase entitled “Tombé.” There were two performances, one Friday night and one Saturday night, both of which were completely sold out.
According to Lauren Orlowski, a public relations major and the vice president of Orchesis, “tombé” is a dance term meaning “to fall.”
“We wanted to keep it very simple, while still incorporating the word ‘fall’ in our show,” said Orlowski on why the group chose that title.
“Tombé” ran for a little over an hour, including intermission, and featured about 30 student dancers in 11 different dances. The first number was “Here in One Minute,” a seven-minute piece choreographed by guest choreographer Jenna Del Monte. Orchesis president Abigail Donegan knew Del Monte, a Buffalo native and a current adjunct professor of dance at SUNY Potsdam, by way of a dance conference. She was the individual who invited Del Monte to choreograph a piece for this show. Although a tad on the longer side, the number was interesting, featuring four dancers artfully running backwards across the stage area and ending in a flash of light.
While many of the dances seemed to feature a similar style, each had its own unique twist that could be credited to its choreographer. Most numbers, such as “Travel with the Wind” and “Departure,” involved some variation of a contemporary modern, jazz or ballet dance; however, some numbers stood out as being of genres of their own, such as “Good Morning” — choreographed by Erik Miller — which was an invigorating and energetic tap number.
“The 20th Century Fox Mambo,” choreographed by Jordan Fischer, also stood out as a departure from the norm set by the other pieces in the show; it was based in musical theater-style dancing and, therefore, was much more theatrical than the other numbers.
“The ‘Mambo’ was my favorite because I’ve seen the show and it’s my favorite, and I love what they did with it,” said audience member Sanjana Tasker, a freshman vocal performance major.
All dance numbers were entertaining to watch, and the three months of planning and practice that went into the show were evident in every number, on every dancer’s face and in every dancer’s movement.
The show concluded with a dance entitled “Haute Monstere,” which was choreographed by the show’s other guest choreographer, Andrij “AJ” Deneka. Deneka is also a Buffalo native and was brought in for his second collaboration with Orchesis by Orlowski.
“AJ’s piece was so very fierce and sassy,” said Orlowski. “It was kind of out of my element for me, so I enjoyed personifying that character and working with that number.”
As was evidenced by the two sold out shows and the reverberating applause and cheers throughout, Orchesis’ “Tombé” was, overall, a great success.
“I think we are very happy with the result of it — we did sell out both nights, which was a great thing,” said Orlowski. “Of course, after every performance, you take that time to debrief, and there’s always things to work on, and that’s not a bad thing, because you grow from those experiences. I know one of the biggest concerns we have heard from a lot of the guests that attended the show was as far as seating goes.”
As the show was held in the Williams Center Multipurpose room, seating and lines of sight were definitely of concern. The problem was that, unless one was in the front row or on an aisle, it was extremely difficult to see any dancing that took place on the floor, which there was actually quite a bit of.
“That’s something we’re definitely looking into and considering for next semester, because we want to be able to have everybody that attends the show see it the same way the person in the front row would see it,” said Orlowski. “That’s really important to us.”
Justin Petito, a senior theatrical production and design major, serves as the technical supervisor for Orchesis and served as the lighting designer for this particular show. He added that as a group, they are always tweaking and improving their set-up so as to make it the best possible experience for all involved.
Speaking about changes made from last semester’s performance to this semester’s performance, Petito said, “We added more lights for our backlight, we got more drape to give us a little bit more masking [and] we rented a sound system as opposed to using some of the stuff we had in-house, which gave us a better sound.”
Looking to the future, he said, “I look forward to the spring show, and it’s going to have some new things that we’re hoping to throw at it.”
As for what those “new things” may be, Petito didn’t say.
Although an audition is required, Orchesis is a student-run dance group that welcomes members of all dance backgrounds. “Some of the dancers range from no experience to 13 years of experience, so there’s a different range there,” said Orlowski. “But it’s awesome to showcase all of their talents, and that’s the thing that makes me most proud. We tell them the most important thing is to go out there and have fun — leave your heart on the dance floor, keep that smile and just put on a great show — have fun. That’s the most important thing.”