orchesis

One minute into “my ssri,” a dance piece set to “Dopamine” by Børns and choreographed by Sanjana Marcé, CC ’21, viewers primarily watched close-up footage of singled-out body parts dancing. Hands interlocking in mirrors, moonwalking sneakers, and a montage of life’s tender moments filled screens in conjunction with more traditional full-body shots, exploring what a pre-filmed dance performance can look like.

From bedrooms, basements, and backyards across the world, student dancers leapt and swayed to viral music chart toppers with the same contagious enthusiasm as content creators on the titular app in “TikTOrchesis.”

If you take a look in your desk drawers, you may notice objects that have sat there uselessly for months but evoke memories so rich that you are unable to part with them. Choreographer Zoe Novello, BC ’21, sees endless opportunities embedded within these objects, using dance as a means to reconnect with the past through the body.

Taking the dance floorchesis, dancers jump and soarchesis, leaving audiences wanting morechesis. This is “Life in ColOrchesis.”

Leaps and twirls and Nae Naes aplenty! Though the performance was sitcom-themed, the audience’s audible enthusiasm was enough to overshadow any laugh track.

Kintsugi is a Japanese art form defined as “the art of repairing metal with gold or silver lacquer and understanding that the piece is more beautiful for having been broken.” As an ideology, it accepts cracks and subsequent repairs as natural, even something to be exalted.

In Roone Arledge Auditorium on Friday night, audience members were met with dancers draped in tie dye, sequined tops, animal onesies, and rainbow socks, to name a few. But their colorful garments were only one of the highlights of ‘Versace on the FloOrchesis,’ Orchesis’ end-of-semester performance, a show emphasizing the importance of supportive communities.

The lights of Roone Arledge Auditorium lowered, silhouetting dancers against the purple light of the backdrop. The audience whooped and hollered, screaming out names as they recognized the poised silhouettes at a biannual performance by Orchesis, Columbia’s largest performing arts group.The title of the show this semester, “What I’ve Been Looking fORCHESIS,” is a nod to one of the “High School Musical” duet ballads; as the title implied, the show’s theme was the Disney film. In what amounts to nostalgia for Columbia’s late-’90s-born undergraduate population, the “High School Musical” theme was a chance to revisit the campy movie soundtrack of the student body’s collective elementary school years.

At “SEE ME,” this year’s MaMa Project, audience members were forced to consider their own reflections and their roles as individuals.

At Orchesis Dance Group’s winter showcase, the variety of dance pieces of all different styles, from lyrical to ballroom, appealed to everyone with an interest in modern dance—but the standout element of the night was the enthusiasm evident on the dancers’ faces.