Tufts' Spirit of Color (SoC) is in full swingthis fall, with dancers and choreographers working hard to prepare thissemester's show. Now strictly a dance group, SoC was created in 1996 asa "means of cultural expression through singing, acting and dancing," accordingto the group's website. Their booty-shaking dances have earned the respectof Jumbos from Carmichael to South, but there is much more to this dynamicdance group than hip-hop.
"There are twenty-one dances in this year's show," says junior JocelynHall, director of the SoC executive board. "We've got hip-hop, West African,and salsa dances planned. There is a martial arts piece that will be doneto its traditional music by four guys and four girls who will dance with[paper] fans, as well as a traditional Indian piece."
The show will also feature jazz dance pieces, though jazz fansmay object to the accompaniment: "I'm choreographing a small girls' pieceto - don't laugh - 'I'm a Slave to You' by Britney Spears," says Hall."It's gonna be hot!"
Junior Suzanne Gutierrez, another choreographer and secretaryof the executive board, has two dances on her hands. She's teaming up withfellow junior Teresa Lake to lead a Caribbean couples dance to Beenie Man's"Dancehall Queen".
"Teresa's from Jamaica, and I'm from Puerto Rico, and we both have somebackground in that style of dance," Gutierrez says. "I'm also choreographinga dance to 'Free' by Mya, with a salsa intro. In Puerto Rico, everyonejust dances salsa. I've been doing it my whole life."
If you've ever seen the show Stomp, then you have someidea of what step dancing is about, and you'll most likely be hungry forthe SoC step group's performance this year. The dance, choreographed byjunior Stefanie Wilson, draws on the experiences of its dancers; Wilsoncombines step moves that dancers learned in other dance groups with herown moves. "It's a lot of fun," says Hall, who dances in the piece.
"The steps seem really complicated and impossible when they're beingdemonstrated," says dancer Stacy Ulrich, a sophomore, "but once the studentsteaching them break them down, they're a lot easier to pick up."
And then, of course, there are the hip-hop pieces. Junior JohnnyDiMicoli, the assistant director of SoC, is rocking with Henry Kasdon,a senior choreographer, to produce an open dance to Redman's "Smash Something."Open dances require no auditions or experience, only a willingness to workhard.
"The open dances are great," says DiMicoli. "It's a much less intimidatingway to get involved. We keep it laid back; we want it to be accessibleand fun, not some boot-camp thing. All that I did my first semester wasone open dance, and now I'm the assistant director."
SoC choreographers even draw on the music of Tufts students intheir music choices. Sheryl David, treasurer of SoC, and Taylor Anderson,both juniors, chose to choreograph their 18-person dance to a Tufts student'sremix. Hadi Badri, also a junior, put down a Busta Rhymes beat on the CraigDavid song "Time to Party," which will be featured in the piece.
The group has faced scheduling problems this semester, as thecoveted Cohen Auditorium was scheduled for the Tufts Dance Collective (TDC)during the same week that SoC had hoped to hold practice.
"We have a couple possible dates, but its going to be hard tocoordinate everything without our usual chunk of time," says Hall. "Thething is, this seems like it's going to be an ongoing problem until Tuftsbuilds a new performing center - the demand is just too high."
But that detail can be worked out, says Hall. What's importantis the talent and hard work that are going into SoC. "It's been incrediblethis year; a huge number of very talented freshmen have come out, everyone'scoming together and working hard. We're going to put on a great show thissemester," says Hall.
