To bring out the Baby/Johnny in you

Last night, Orchesis premiered its fall showcase, “Maniac on the FloOrchesis.”  Dancing Dynamo Lili Brown brings you the play-by-play.

Orchesis, Columbia’s largest student dance group, is back with another fall showcase that began last night at 8:30 pm and ends tonight with a 9 pm show in Roone. This year’s showcase brought over 100 Columbia student-dancers to the stage, moving swiftly and gracefully between numbers organized by 17 peer-choreographers. With 19 pieces total (and a lot of numbers we just threw at you, there’s a test!) and a wide range of styles, Bwog made some tough decisions and narrowed it down to give you the insider scoop on a handful of last night’s most memorable performances.

After last night, it’s safe to say that everyone in Orchesis has a best friend and that they dutifully showed up (or each dancer paid someone to scream their name whenever they appeared on stage, even if in only in silhouette during transitions). However, it takes a tap dance for everyone to put aside their biased, generic “YEAH ___!” or “SHE’S MY BEST FRIEND!” chants and unite in genuine support. John Fisher’s “Happy Feet” (no, don’t think dancing minions) to another uppity hit called “Happy” matched tight tap dancing to the clapping scheme in the song. Title to dance and song were appropriate – anyone discreetly texting or searching through the program to find when their friend went on next was forced to emerge from their distraction and put all eyes on stage with a corresponding smile on their faces. This fun-for-all piece had synchronized scissor jumps galore, a brave soul who did three back hand springs, a more brave soul who did an aerial, and a supported back flip. The abundance of movement onstage got the whole crowd moving too with a resounding applause at the end.

Moving on to a more serious note, Maniac continued with Ivy Vega’s “The Master,” where spotlight lighting revealed the sole male of the piece to have a waistband with strings that lassoed around the waists of his accompanying dancers. This was synchronized dancing to the max, and the male dancer’s superhero black eye-mask gave it a mysterious Spider-Man feel; his web of dancers either moved on his command or shifted to become his puppeteers. The contemporary choreography encapsulated an intense power struggle, and was set to an equally intense tune. The dancers themselves did an amazing job balancing graceful moves with a physical inhibitor tied around their waists, as well as moving with the flow of everyone else given their connectedness – props to them for making this look seemingly painless.

And, obviously, what is a dance performance without Beyonce? Samantha Starr’s “Fever” brought some snappy moves to Beyonce’s sultry cover of “Fever” . The crowd naturally went wild upon hearing media’s #1 feminist’s voice boom through Roone, but the choreography matched the hype of the song. The dancers kept their moves tight with the snaps of the song, pausing dramatically at all the right times with Bey and moving swiftly when the underlying base allowed them to. It wouldn’t surprise us if these nine dancers were picked to do cameos in Beyonce’s next music video.

Another quasi-feminist, Taylor Swift’s hit “Shake It Off” featured one of the largest-membered pieces in Orchesis’ lineup. Matthew Soto didn’t fail to make this dance as fun as the undeniably catchy song it was set to; all of the dancers kept consistent smiles on their faces and there was even a point at the end where dancers turned to each other to literally shake it off before returning back to the routine. During the bridge, different groups of dancers took the stage and did their own moves for a few seconds, a la any freestyle circle that emerges at proms/bar mitzvahs/homecoming dances. The two male dances of the group did a one-led jump with two pointed fingers bopping up and down with the pace of their feet, sharing the fun the dancers were having on stage to the audience members themselves. All in all, snaps of this piece would be better than any of Tay’s polaroids she included in the deluxe edition of 1989.

Though a large community of different dancers with differing styles, backgrounds, and level of involvement in pieces, the entire Orchesis cast came together to the stage for the final number, where the namesake of the showcase played. The dancers had some brief synchronized choreography, but quickly broke out into their own moves within their own groups. Their freestyle celebration at the end was well-deserved after a great hour and half of hard work.

Be sure to catch the next and final show this evening at 9 pm in Roone. Tickets are available onsite or at the TIC for $7 with a Columbia/Barnard ID ($12 for non-CU/BC ID).

The Maniac him/herself via Maniac on the FloORCHESIS Event Page