The Knox Student

Terpsichore held their spring dance concert, “Extension,” this past Friday and Saturday. Set in the Knosher Bowl and Memorial Gym on Friday, the entire show was moved into the Memorial Gym on Saturday due to rain. There were a total of 16 dances, with seven outside in the Bowl and the remaining 11 inside Memorial Gym.

Having dances set outdoors presented both advantages and disadvantages. The most obvious disadvantage was the weather however that was remedied by holding the whole concert in the Memorial Gym. Another drawback was outdoor distractions such as the sun and humidity, not to mention the trains. During the last dance, “Hypnosisss,” a train came by with its horn blaring. The advantages to dancing on a football field included more open space and a wider view for the audience.

In “Obtain the Return Of,” dancers incorporated the use of flags, reminiscent of a color guard in a marching band. However, the timing of the flags were off many times, but improved on the second day. In “See No, Hear No, Speak No (EVIL),” dancers dressed in white started out in a circular cluster and slowly began to expand out, revealing a single dancer representing “evil” dressed in black in the middle. Music from the movie “Requiem for a Dream” set the unnerving scene. During the dance, evil would push and pull the dancers in white. Afterwards, they would cover their eyes, ears, or mouths.

The last dance, “Hypnosisss,” featured belly dancing and the use of Poi, a performance art that involves twirling a ball suspended from flexible material. During the first concert, the Poi performers twirled brightly colored balls, but for the second concert, the lights were turned off because they performed with electronically powered Poi, which made for a visually appealing piece.

The music choices for “Extension” were excellent, ranging from Clint Mansell’s soundtracks from “Requiem for a Dream” to the Icelandic progressive-rock group Sigur Ros to Muse’s “Remy Zero” “Starlight”. I especially liked the dance “Us” because it was perfectly timed with the music from Sigur Ros. Sigur Ros’ uplifting sounds complemented the sweeping movements of the dancers.

“Sexpots,” featuring seniors Lauren Assaf and Brian Humpherys, got the audience hot and bothered and received some of the loudest applause of the night. “Girls Got Tude” featured a new style of dance for Knox, stepping, and “Quantum Robotics” also featured the unusual sight of dancers only moving certain parts of their body.

The last dance of the night “He’s Drop Shoe Gorgeous, She’s Got a Donk, and We Just Wanna Dance Tonight”, featured a whole story of love found, lost , and found again, culminating with a marriage proposal.