The Longwood Company of Belly Dance presented their spring show titled “Mosaic” on Saturday in Jarman Auditorium. The show featured countless original routines choreographed by the dancers themselves as well as fun collaborations, a dance performed by the beginners and countless solos.
The crowd in the auditorium was astounding, with over three-fourths of the seats filled; the company even ran out of programs to give the guests.
Advanced members Amelia Smith, Corey Carbonneau, Lindsey Perotti and Natalie Andrino began the show with their dance, “Adaptation.” It was a tribal piece featuring graceful and rhythmic movements and a sense of suspense as the dancers unmasked themselves towards the end.
A few songs later, Laura Fajardo danced a solo performance to “I Will Survive.” Donning a bedazzled bra with a flowing orange veil and skirt, she twirled and moved her hips to the beat in a way that resembled the classic Spanish flamenco dancer. Not only was her attire mesmerizing and perfect for the dance, but she stunned the audience with her remarkable grace and confidence throughout the song.
Katerina Wiley, Savannah Barnett and Colleen Dooley followed up Fajardo’s performance with their own creation to go along with the song, “Crush.” As the song moved through its first few verses, the group members proceeded to dance with robot like, mechanic movements. From there they stacked their entrances and showcased each other's unique talents while also performing perfectly in sync with each other.
Shaunna Gleeson and Hallie Coburn took the stage later to perform their own choreographed dance to the song, “Passage.” Dressed to resemble fire and water, Coburn wore a glittery blue and purple bedazzled bra and held onto an ice colored veil while Gleeson was the picture of fire with her golden sequined bra and ombre orange and red veil.
As the music began at a slow and smooth pace, Coburn slid in with her part of the dance. A quick tempo and mood change cued Gleeson in, and before you knew it, the two were dramatically moving their hips and arms to the beat of the music.
As a duet, they were perfect together in that every move was in sync and they collectively portrayed an incredibly dramatic scene that left some members of the audience with chills.
Alumnus Ashley Russell and Amena Sims added to the dramatic feeling created by Coburn and Gleeson with their performance to a common favorite, “Dark Horse” by Katy Perry.
The two consistently kept their hips in line with the baseline and beautifully acted out the song in a smooth and intense performance.
Another favorite song appeared just a few performances later when Whitney Scott, Jessi Scruggs, Lauren Virostek, Helen Amos and Maria Lupia performed their dance to the "Frozen" song “Let it Go.”
The performance began as a solo in which one of the dancers took the stage in a sparkly white and light blue costume complete with white wings and veils.
She began with simple flowing movements to go along with the themes of the song, and as the music became more dramatic, the other dancers entered and moved around the soloist in almost perfectly synchronized movements.
Much like Elsa in the "Frozen" movie, Scott, Scruggs, Virostek, Amos and Lupia ended their performance with a sassy veil toss to go along with the lyrics, “the cold never bothered me anyway.”
Other notable performances from the show included an impressive beginner performance in which the dancers, though obviously new to the style, beautifully showcased multiple techniques.
Each dancer had a giant smile on her face; it was obvious that this group of girls were enjoying themselves, and that made the audience enjoy the show that much more.
Toward the end of the show, Fajardo stunned the audience as she came out for her performance to the song “Radioactive” as she balanced a long sword in her hair.
A nervous whisper could be heard throughout the crowd as countless members worried as to whether she would drop it, or even worse, cut something. But she proved everyone wrong and instead used the sword as a prop that quickly became the main focus of her dance.
Many would agree that she resembled a warrior as she spun the sword over her head, and around her body a few times before balancing it easily on her head again.
All of these girls have been practicing together as a group and also separately for countless hours every week to put this incredible performance together.
Gleeson said, “It was crazy; if I wasn’t doing homework, I was working on my dance. It was so stressful, but at the same time, I had so much fun and I’m really proud of what I was able to do.” As she should be; it was obvious through each performance just how hard these girls worked, and it definitely paid off. But this wasn’t your last chance to see them this semester. Along with other Longwood Dance teams, they will be performing at Spring Weekend, so be sure not to miss them!
