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SHENECA SHARPE
Special to The Leader
Orchesis Dance Company debuted its long awaited Orchesis Spring show: Back to Our Roots. The event varied from ballet, pop and African inspirations that kept viewers enthralled with the performances. The intimacy of the dance studio made the dancing even more powerful. Audience members couldn’t help but stare at the intricate movements.
It was an hour of positive energy that left people in awe of what took place. Members of the audience were shocked after every performance that happened that night. It wasn’t necessary to ask members of the audience if the performances were great. To get that confirmation, all that was needed was to listen to the roar of the applause after every group left the stage.
“I loved it. I’ve never been to a dancing show before, and for my first time it was amazing, especially in the last performance when the dancers had the number ‘16’ on their arms to show … that they are graduating,” junior biology major Melissa Mallay said.
Many seniors partook in the last dance, since it would be their last major Orchesis performance before graduating. It was a performance filled with fast movements and a consistent sense of unity. At the end of the performance, all the seniors that performed lifted up their sleeves which showed the number “16” on their arms in red, showing that they would be graduating this year. It was a sweet moment that the audience felt so deeply.
“I really liked it — all the dancers were so cool and so different. They varied one from the other. My favorite though, was the one done with the song ‘Hello’ by Adele,” said Madi Lisker, junior music industry major. “The performers in the black and white that showed the different personalities, almost good versus evil, and I just thought that was really amazing,”
The performance showed a good versus evil concept that nobody thought could be done with that song. The dancers were either dressed in all black or all white to show who was bad and who was good.
The dancers in black seemed as if they were trying to entice the dancers in the white, but the dancers in the white decided to fight it off and stay away. To tell a strong story without saying one word showed the impact the event had that night.
“My favorite performance had to be the last one definitely. [There] was just so much going on and to know that only one person choreographed that whole performance is crazy to me,” said Brett Fielding, junior environmental science major.
While there were some clear crowd favorites, it would be a crime to neglect all the other performances. Each and every performance was beautifully done and had its own unique story.
One of them portrayed the concept of bullying and how to not reciprocate what someone has done for just revenge. Even the intermission performance was wonderfully done by Fredonia’s own a capella group, The Riveters.
The whole night was an absolute success, from the dancers to the venue and the stories that were told through movement. It is sometimes forgotten how much of a powerful art form dance can be. On that night, everyone was reminded once again of that fact.