Pottle was kicking last Thursday night as tap dancers shuffled to the rhythm for the “Tap Dance Etcetera” concert.
The concert was free to attend and began at 7:30 p.m. in the Pottle Music Building Auditorium. It was dedicated to Cynthia Tricou and Artie Gautier, performing arts educators at Hammond Eastside Elementary Magnet School.
The reason behind the name “Tap Dance Etcetera” was that this was more than a typical tap concert. The performances bridged generations with various dance styles from jazz to hip hop, most being choreographed by students.
In an Oct. 31 press release, Dr. Martie Fellom, artistic director of “Tap Dance Etcetera” mentioned that the concert would feature “an innovative dance style performed by the dancing duo, Tokyoswagg.” The dynamic duo is comprised of students Steven Ban and Jaquan Warren. With a combination of their robotic and hip hop dance styles, they served as an interlude to the tap performances. They were a favorite of a few youths in the crowd who got involved in their dialogue.
“We definitely expected an audience reaction,” said Ban, a senior business major. “The stage director said she wanted us to prepare for it. We love it when they get involved.”
The concert was a huge undertaking for the student choreographers Arianna Hodge, Destiny Levert, Leah Reeb and Crystal Schayot.
“Choreographing for a show like this is a huge, stressful, but rewarding process,” said Schayot, a senior general studies major. “It’s hours upon hours of sweat, creative thinking and hard work. It’s making decisions, changing them, and changing them again and developing them even more… What we ended up with was so much more involved and detailed than what I had originally thought of.”
Schayot continued to describe that the choreographic process that developed “Tap Dance Etcetera” was not just the effort of one person, but that of a group of performers. She praised the dancers and contributors to her piece, “Senior Year.”
“It was a wonderful collaboration of artists,” said Schayot. “If any of the roles, number of dancers or really anything had been different, it would’ve changed the entire dance.”
The Tenacious Tappers, an older female dancing troupe, performed to a medley including music from Donna Summer, Robert Hazard and others. Directed by Cynthia Tricou, they dedicated their performance to the memory of Patsy Kay Turner, who formerly taught at the university.
With the tap concert over, performers hope that they have given the audience more insight into what they are capable of.
“I hope everyone can look at the dance program in a new light and realize it’s not just one style of dance that we do,” said Schayot. “We incorporate as many of our dancers as we can and try to explore different styles in as many ways as we can when we are given the freedom and opportunity to do so.”
She continued to describe her emotions on the end of the show.
“My parents bought me a rose at the concert with a note attached which said, ‘Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body (Martha Graham)… This is why dance is art. It comes from your soul and is that deep. It is something so organic and is different every time it’s done. It will never be performed the exact same way twice. It says what words cannot. It’s so important to keep everyone involved and to keep having concerts and shows. This is how we keep the dance and theatre programs alive and thriving. I really do hope that everyone enjoyed the concert and had something to share with those who missed it.”