(Video Courtesy of Hallee Breton)
By Olivia McCrillis
BANGOR, ME- Husson University’s Gracie theatre hosted The 5th Annual Dance Showcase this past saturday. The showcase involved the Husson University Dance Club, Dance team, and the Jazz and Swing classes offered by Husson. The Jazz and Swing Dance students were required to be there as part of a class grade, but seemed to have a lot of fun with their performances. The Husson University Dance Club was responsible for putting on this event as well as their advisor. Anybody was welcome to participate in the performance if they had a choreographed dance and wanted to perform, with the permission of the Dance Club president, Jillian Wilson.
The Husson Dance Team does a showcase once a year similar to this showcase that the Dance Club put on. The Dance Team also had a send-off night where they perform for an audience in addition to the competitions that they’re involved in. In addition to their competitions and practices, the Dance Team also performs at the Husson Football and Basketball games.
But the Dance Team and the Dance Club isn’t the same thing. The Dance Club is more laid back and dances for the fun of it, meeting once a week to choreograph and learn dances with one another, where the Dance Team meets twice a week and performs and competes with other schools. The Dance Team also differs in the way that they hold tryouts, whereas anybody who’s interested can join the Dance Club.
Marketing student at Husson University and member of the Dance Team, Rosie Conary shared her favorite part of the performance, “My favorite part of the performance was feeling so welcome. Everyone from the dance club welcomed us and made us feel like we were a part of their dance family. I also enjoyed getting the see the other dances as well.” Conary has been dancing for 17 years now and has been involved with the Husson Dance Team for the past three years.
All of the dances in the showcase were choreographed specifically for the showcase, with the exception of the competition routine that the Dance Team performed in their traditional Dance Team uniforms. The performances done by the Dance Team were the competition routine and their dance to the famous Justin Bieber song “Sorry.” They learned both of these dances in a span of three weeks, where their tap dance routine took a little longer. The tap routine was a special one for the Dance Team because their coach Hilary Hoyt joined in on the performance with them, something that they are usually unable to do. It took the dance classes half a semester to learn their routines, and the Dance club started practicing their dances months ago.
If you’re interested in joining the Dance Team, tryouts are held the first or second week of school, and in the case that you are unable to join before football season, private tryouts are held after the season. In order to be involved with the Dance Club you can sign up at any of the open houses that Husson puts on each semester or by getting in touch with any members of the dance club. However, in order for them to finalize the dances, the Dance Club does have a deadline for joining, which is usually in February.
In addition to the showcase, the Dance Team did well this year, coming in second place behind Bryant University at the All Star New England Cheer and Dance Championship. Conary says, “We have come a long way since 3 years ago when we could hardly do one turn in sync. Now we are working on doubles and triples as a team.”
For more information about the Dance Club contact, Hannah Ainslie at ainslieh@husson.edu
For more information on the Dance Team contact coach, Hilary Hoyt at hoyth@husson.edu
