"Synchronicity," the immaculate coincidence of movement, a perfect harmony of action, is a rare occurrence that happens either by chance or through exacting efforts. Incredibly, Tufts' repertory dance ensemble Sarabande's show, "In the Moment," achieved this immaculate integration of physical movement. The show ran yesterday and will run again this Saturday, Nov. 21.
The dancers engage the stage in a diverse range of pieces, from a mellifluous number that enacts the slow sensuality of Joshua Radin's music, to a quirky, clown-like homage to Regina Spektor, to a fierce and fiery mélange of Michael Jackson's work. Each piece in the show is unique, banishing boredom from the Cohen auditorium arena, but each is connected by the pure spirit of delight in every dance.
Senior Phoebe Pickering, the current president of Sarabande, is excited to air a more sundry collection of pieces this semester than ever before. "There are fewer choreographers this year, but a much more diverse group of dances," Pickering said. "Some years we've had a lot of slower, angst-y types of dances, but this year there are a lot of different types of dances and I think that really enhances the show."
Sarabande, named for a Spanish dance of centuries past, consists of 20 dancers who are trained in ballet and modern dance and are accepted through a selective auditioning process. This semester's show boasts nine pieces, each choreographed, directed and performed by students. One of the dances is a revival of a piece choreographed by a now-alumna. "We're trying to model ourselves like a ‘repertoire' group," Pickering said, "and this dance is part of that effort. We're hoping to expand our repertoire by maintaining old dances while adding new ones."
The revived dance opens the show with the electric energy of "Desperate Guys" by The Faint. The dancers flash across the stage with the grace of ballerinas and the crisp, modern edge of young talent. Following that dance is one by senior Marissa D'Ambra, whose choreography is rife with nostalgia as her career at Tufts and in Sarabande draws to a close.
"I chose an ‘emo' song I used to listen to in high school — it's supposed to be a sort of ‘broken-hearted dance queens' idea," D'Ambra said. "There was a fiasco with the costumes, because the company wouldn't deliver them [to Tufts], but I realized I had enough prom-type dresses in my closet for everyone. When you're a senior in college and you look back, it's easier to reflect and make fun of your high school days."
Sprinkled between the Sarabande performances are showings from various other dance groups at Tufts, including Spirit of Color, the Tufts Dance Collective, Blackout, Tufts' Bhangra and Garba teams, the Tufts Tap Ensemble and La Salsa. The other ensembles' performances are spicy and fun, adding amusement to an already entertaining experience. This year, too, a special guest is added to the mix: The Adagio Dance Company from Brandeis University.
"We've begun something new this year, where we're forming relationships with other schools and bringing them to Tufts and trying to perform with them. We've started to form a relationship with Brandeis now and are looking to network with other schools in the area," Pickering said.
Sarabande's dancers move perfectly in sync with one another throughout the show, gliding through willowy leaps and snapping into angular shapes as if they are linked by an invisible force. The perfection of their grace appears effortless, but it is certainly not without countless hours of hard work.
"I'm in seven dances this semester," junior Alyza DelPan-Monley said. "Each dance requires an hour of practice a week and I'm choreographing two dances, so those each require extra time outside of practice."
It is not uncommon for many dancers to take on similar challenges, participating in six or more dances each semester. The results of their hard work are exhilarating. Sophomore Christina Aguirre, the producer of the show this semester, said working on "In the Moment" has required endless hours of organizing, emailing, budgeting and tracking details, but it all felt worth it when the whole production fell into place.
"We work on the show for the entire semester," Aguirre said, "And when we watch the final product from offstage we're all thinking ‘Woah, we did that!'"
The Sarabande show is at 8 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets are available in the Cohen box office and are free for students.
