Talent on center stage

Seven female dancers in short dresses, gloves and black feather boas
performed onstage as the music urged them to “shake that thing.”

Titled “Ode to Glamor,” the dance was one of 10 acts in the Orchesis
Dance Theatre Winter Concert, which premiered Thursday night in Moore
Hall’s Bush Theatre. Dance Professor Yvette Birs Crandall was the
artistic director for the concert.

“I think it went very well for opening night,” Crandall said. “There
are so many kinks in dress rehearsal that all seem to be ironed out or
disappear when there’s an audience.”

While she was pleased with Thursday’s performance, Crandall said she
expects to see improvements in the subsequent shows.

“The expectation is they get better every night as they relax into
the dances,” Crandall said.

Dance numbers ranged from modern music to jazz, tap and ballet. One
of the most popular numbers featured five women in red dresses tap
dancing to “Swing, Swing, Swing,” a big band song.

Plymouth junior Gina Sikora, one of the dancers in the “Swing,
Swing, Swing” number, said she felt teamwork was central to Thursday
night’s success.

“It was as good as we could have hoped for,” Sikora said. “We worked
well as a team and I think that showed onstage.”

Dancers wore different costumes in each dance.

Coldwater freshman Kayla Fry said the costumes were one of the most
noteworthy features of the show.

“I thought it was awesome,” Fry said. “I thought the costumes really
fit the pieces. It was very impressive dancing.”

The Orchesis Dance Theatre Winter Concert runs at 8 p.m. today and
Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday in Bush Theatre. Crandall said four
consecutive performances are physically demanding on the dancers.

“It’s hard to sustain dance four nights in a row,” she said. “It
takes a lot out of you physically.”

After spending weeks training the dancers, Crandall compared
watching them in a live performance to a parent watching their child
become independent.

“You spend all this time nurturing them and then you have to let
them go,” Crandall said. “The creative process is like the birth
process. I’m sitting there and it’s like I’m dancing with them but I
know I can’t do anything to help them.”