It is not every day that one can say they've seen a belly dancing performance. In fact, when one thinks of Farmville, Va., belly dancing is quite possibly the furthest thing from their mind. But a Longwood student organization hopes to change people's perceptions of this particular style of dance.
On Tuesday, April 10, the Longwood Company of Belly Dance held their annual spring performance in Jarman Auditorium. This year's performance was entitled "Colors of the Mirage," and the theme was interpreting the emotions we associate with particular colors through the expressive art of belly dancing.
The evening started off with a dance entitled "Cabaret." It fit with the theme of "Colors of the Mirage," and included many colors throughout the performance. It featured students Shelby Easome, Kandice Farmer, Chantal Gamble, Krysten Heath, Krista Hylton, Chloé Joseph, Laura Meadows, Morgan Ridgway, Florence Schooley, Amena Sims, Taylor Southall, Moe Thompson, Nikki Webb and Katerina Wiley.
The entertainment continued with "The Warrior Dance," featuring performers Corey Black, Camille Giles, John Hart and Justin Meyer. Red, black, white and gold were the colors represented in this piece. The pieces "Assassin's Creed" and "Fire Dance" represented red and white, and red and orange respectively. "Assassin's Creed" was performed by Laura Fajardo and "Fire Dance" was performed by Alex White, the company's president.
"Return to Innocence" represented the colors white and sky blue and featured a song of the same name by Enigma. It was performed by Tiffany Riggins, Maggie Shanahan and Moe Thompson. After that dance, "Fantastic, Baby," performed by Kandice Farmer represented the color orange.
"When Cicada's Cry" represented the color purple and featured a solo by Chloé Joseph. "Royal Pains" represented purple, gold and silver, and was performed by Laura Meadows and Alex White. "Sail" represented the color brown, and included the song "Sail" by AWOLNATION. The piece was performed by Ashley Russell, who serves as the company's Public Relations chair. "Brooklyn Baladi," representing the color red, and "Snake's Curse," representing black and red, featured dances by Susan Hailey, Krista Hylton, Taylor Southall and Shelby Easome; Krysten Heath, Krista Hylton, Tiffany Riggins, Maggie Shanahan, Amanda Tharp and Moe Thompson, respectively.
"Meteor Shower" represented the color blue and featured another performance by Nikki Webb and "Voodoo," representing gray and dark green, included performances by Chantal Gamble and Alex White. The dance was accompanied by the song "Voodoo" by Godsmack. "Wind in the Willows," representing the color brown, included dances from both Chelsea Putland and Amanda Tharp and included a song by Ellie Goulding entitled, "Lights."
The evening was wrapped up with a performance by Justin Meyer and Ashley Russell, which went beyond what one might expect to see. Entitled, "Blood Red," it represented the color, and included a sword fight between the pair.
At the end of the show, the collective group of dancers took their final curtain calls, which was met with applause from the intrigued audience. A special send-off was made for senior Chloé Joseph, since she will be graduating at the end of this semester, which brought tears to the eyes of the performers.
Yes, belly dancing is not something that one encounters every day, but the Longwood Company of Belly Dance presented entertaining performances that proved the dancers' sheer passion for the art form.
