By Kate Vandermeulen – Director of Marketing & Communications
While many students attended class or hunkered down studying on Friday, Nov. 24, the members of BU Dance warmed up for one of their favourite nights of the year. After countless hours of rehearsal, it was finally time to raise the curtains on BU Dance’s annual Gait Showcase.
All three groups of BU Dance came together to showcase the Bishop’s community their efforts since September. The club team came prepared with three dances: a hip-hop number titled “Bring ‘em out” choreographed by Kyddo; a high-energy jazz dance to “Rich Girl” choreographed by Kayla Vardy; and a heart-wrenching contemporary number choreographed by Kyddo and Hannah-Michelle Samson to “Vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo.
The competitive team debuted abridged versions of their large jazz, small jazz, new-school hip hop and old-school hip hop, choreographed by Kate Vandermeulen, Rianna Ostrosser and Kyddo, respectively. The competitive team will compete these numbers, and more, at an upcoming competition in March in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Junior coordinators Hannah-Michelle Samson and Sonoma Brawley lead the pom team, who riled up the crowd with two numbers: the first being a dazzling routine to “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody” choreographed by Samson, and the second a classic and upbeat dance to ABBA’s hit “Waterloo” by Brawley.
Samson describes the Gait Showcase as one of her favourite events of the year: “It’s amazing to have all your friends show up to watch you do what you love”.
Brawley noted that “dancing at Bishop’s has been such an incredible experience and getting to share our joy and love for what we do is so rewarding.” She thanks everyone for coming out.
This showcase, titled “Meet us at the Barre”, was the first showcase for a majority of the performing dancers. “My favourite part of the showcase was cheering for my teammates – I literally lost my voice!”, said first-year member of the competitive team, Gabby Lalonde.
Teammate Makena Burns chimed in about how fun it is to “get to feed off the energy of the crowd and just have fun”.
Missed the Gait Showcase? BU Dance performs again in Centennial Theatre on March 24 at their final showcase of the year! Keep your eyes peeled and follow @bishopsdance on Instagram for more information.
Correction made on Dec. 4, 4:37 p.m.: The date of the Centennial Theatre performance is March 24, not March 4.
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