Surrounded by the towering Gasson Hall and white flowered trees swaying in the wind, Boston College’s 24th Annual Arts Festival took over the lawn and music reverberated off the walls of O’Neill Library. Under the shade of a massive tent, dance groups, many decked out in themed costumes, assembled on stage on Thursday and Friday to perform for the BC community.
Thursday’s Showcase Features ALC Showdown Sets
During the first dance showcases of the festival, the Golden Eagles kicked off the show with an electrifying performance to the track “Ex’s & Oh’s” by Elle King. The team garnered cheers from the crowd with its precisely synchronized kick line. Its second dance featured lyrical choreography as the dancers bounded to the front of the stage and lifted posing dancers on their shoulders.
As more people filtered into the tent, the crowd let out eager shouts as AEROdynamiK filed onstage to perform its set from this year’s ALC Showdown. The routine, based on the popular TV show Squid Game, included extravagant blue and red jumpsuit costumes and masks. Chilling music played as the dancers created formations on the stage to show off their choreography. Stage lights flashed as the dancers delivered sharp hip-hop moves.
BC Full Swing was up next. Its dancers lifted and twirled their partners onstage to the tune of “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” by Elton John and Kiki Dee.
Vida de Intensa Pasión followed and impressed the crowd with its rapid footwork and lifts. The audience clapped along as the music’s tempo picked up.
UPrising Dance Crew also performed its Showdown set, which was themed after the Disney movie Up. Creating an engaging spectacle onstage, the dancers assembled in a pyramid formation, and different lines of dancers gradually started dancing, creating the illusion that the group slowly activated.
Fuego del Corazón finished off the showcase with a high-energy segment of lifts and spins in the beginning of its set. The dancers streamed across the stage in straight lines, creating an X shape on the stage. For the finale, one dancer soared through the air in a split.
Groups Bring Technical and Emotional Intensity for Friday Performances
Students leaving their Friday morning classes stopped by O’Neill Plaza to see a second day of dance routines. BC On Tap dancers started moving their feet as the bass dropped, and the crowd cheered. Even when their music cut out unexpectedly, the dancers brushed it off and showcased their own stomping rhythms.
BC Dance Ensemble filed onstage next for its moving, lyrical dance to “Love in the Dark” by Adele. Creating sharp angles with their limbs, the dancers moved with striking precision across the stage. At one point, dancers divided into three groups and alternated showing off their moves.
BC Irish Dance (BCID) earned the loudest applause of the showcase, as the dancers created beats with their hard shoes that built as more of them joined in. At one point, the dancers linked hands and moved in a circle that occupied the entire stage. BCID’s music incorporated traditional Celtic tunes with bouncing pop beats as the team kept the audience mesmerized.
Running onstage in multicolored, camouflage-patterned outfits, the dancers of Synergy Hip Hop Dance Company commenced their routine full of smooth transitions between formations and popping body movements.
The Dance Organization of BC finished off the show with its routine to “I Put A Spell on You” by Annie Lennox. The dancers spun with their legs pointed, swayed as they leaned against each other, and struck a final dramatic pose in the center of the stage.
Update 5/8/2022 10:32 P.M.: The name of the song that the Golden Eagles danced to was corrected from “X’s and O’s” by Trisha Yearwood to “Ex’s and Oh’s” by Elle King.
