Gospel Dance Explosion in Warriner a success
Months of preparing for the first annual Michigan Gospel Dance Explosion paid off for Saginaw junior Dorthy Beemon.
Beemon, president of the registered student organization Praise N’ Motion, spent many long hours getting ready for the event which took place Saturday in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium.
“We talked about doing it last semester, but once the organization got going we’ve really focused hard,” she said.
About 350 people went to the event which included performances by 12 dance groups and was sponsored by Praise N’ Motion Gospel Dance Ministry and Hype 4 Christ.
The audience seemed to enjoy themselves throughout the evening and many fed off of the energy and electricity of the performers.
“It’s a lot more high-energy than I thought that it would be,” said Christy Poterek, Sterling Heights senior. “They have put on some pretty good performances.”
Praise N’ Motion, which formed in January, has been working to prepare for the event since its inception.
“Most people have been practicing twice a week since January,” Beemon said. “But over the past few weeks people were practicing at least every other day.”
Abi Afolabi, Nigeria senior and a performer from His House Ministry, said the workload was not limited to certain people.
“Everybody put in a lot of energy and we all put in hours, it didn’t matter if you were dancing or not,” Afolabi said.
The show closed with a rousing performance in which the Praise N’ Motion dancers invited the crowd to join them onstage to sing and dance.
“That was definitely my favorite part,” said Kelly Kwasniuk, Brighton junior.
The event was more than just a show to some.
“It shows that there are so many people from different places, but we have all come here for one reason, and that is to praise God,” Poterek said.
Beemon said she wasn’t sure what the turnout would be.
“I had no real expectations because there were a few other events that were taking place on campus tonight, but when I saw how many people showed up tonight, I felt really good,” she said. “It feels very good to see all this hard work pay off.”
