Dancers were abuzz with excitement as they tried out full runs of their routines for the first time. These young dancers were AU students preparing for the AU in Motion “Spring Fever” 2013 Showcase, which takes place in the Tavern from April 12-13.
The showcase displays the widest range of dances. From swing to hip-hop to classical ballet, most of the dancers are assembled from students and alumni who curated segments which synthesize most styles into small vignettes.
Claire Callahan, a graduate of the School of Public Affairs, who joined AU in Motion during her sophomore year and choreographed the ballet segment, said that AU in Motion gives students an outlet to showcase their hidden talents.
She is a classically trained ballerina who hails from Seattle and went to the Pacific Northwest Ballet conservatory before moving to D.C. to pursue academics.
“I moved out here to Washington, D.C. to go to college because I realized that dance was something that I loved to do, but it is very difficult to make as a career,” Callahan said. “So that’s why AU in Motion is so wonderful, because it allows all the dancers who still want to have dance as a part of their life both socially and just for their own inspiration and release while still being able to continue with academics.”
The artistic director for AU in Motion, School of International Service sophomore Maria Riquezes, said that the “Spring Fever” project was a very involved process, from casting choreographers and choosing music to getting the dancers together and coordinating the event.
“At the beginning of each semester, we audition choreographers, and choreographers just have to come out to audition with 30 seconds of choreo —a basic idea, number of dancers, just their vision for the piece,” Riquezes said. “And then later, the dancers audition and I’ve seen a lot of pieces transformed from what their original visions were.”
Callahan said that choreographing a piece can be a cerebral experience. Finding the right way to interpret a dance is like drawing lines on a blank canvas. Each dance starts as a sketch and slowly evolves with the music.
“It’s very different when you translate your movement, or the one that feels very natural to you, onto other bodies that are also well trained, but they also have their own movement quality,“ Callahan said.
In bringing together the show, Riquezes showed excitement about the variety that the performance showcases.
“We actually called it ‘Spring Fever’ and we picked the name before we actually had an idea of what the show was going to be, and it really did just become into this overheating,” Riquezes said, “they’re gonna be so pumped and their bloods gonna be rushing because of high energy.”
But any skeptics who prefer the more demure forms of dance should not be deterred from this show.
“It’s really a show for everyone,” Riquezes said. “There’s sexy. There’s slow. There’s hot. There’s just all kinds of stuff out there, and we’re really excited.”
dkahen-kashi@theeagleonline.com
