On Nov. 15 and 16, the UTM Dance Ensemble presented “Dance Until the World Ends.”
Themed around the supposed end of the world due to take place in December, the performance included 16 dances and one special performance from Stepz Dance Studios, located in Union City.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am the PEP leader for two of the dancers: Jenna York and Michaelá Elliott. I am also the former PEP leader for two more of the dancers: Abby Taylor and Rachel Parsons. As I’m sure all four of them would tell you if given the chance, I’m pretty blunt anyway, no matter how much I like you. If you’re not that good, I’ll probably tell you. Luckily for me, all of them are extremely talented, so no worries.
I would also like to mention that I know nothing about dance, other than what I like and what I think looks good. So don’t expect this to be some kind of technical critique, because it won’t be. This is the end of the confessional portion of my review.
To tell the truth, the collective talent of the entire group made me acutely aware of how goofy a dancer I am, but that’s neither here nor there. Suffice it to say that all of them are brilliant and very deserving of whatever praise comes their way.
I was impressed with just the range of the entire thing. The music went from something more classical to hip hop to country and then to whatever category Michael Bublé is in, and the dancers did all of it equally well. While it would take far too long to recap the entire performance, I will at least highlight my favorite parts.
The first dance of the night to really capture my imagination was “Duende,” which was performed by Ashleigh Morrow, choreographed by Sarah McCormick, UTM Dance Ensemble Director, and featured the song Solento by René Aubry. It was just very sweet and very light, but thoughtful. It just struck me as wonderfully graceful.
“End of Time,” a larger number, featured the dancers from Stepz Dance Studios. Using the song of the same name by Beyoncé and choreographed by Reshonda Batts, the two groups of dancers blended with one another beautifully.
Right after “End of Time” came “My Hands.” It featured the song My Hands by Leona Lewis and was danced by Ebonie Harrell, Rachel Parsons, Ashley Spicer and Joe Wiley, as well as choreographed by Rachel Parsons. The dance tells the story of a three girls and the boy who keeps bouncing around between them, as far as I could gather. Of course, the guy gets his comeuppance and gets left all by himself, which fulfilled my need for cosmic justice for the day. I thought it was a neat and tidy visual representation of a story.
“Love …” was choreographed by Carmen Norfleet and danced by herself, Michaelá Elliott, Leslie W. J. Howard IV and D’Angelous Stevenson. Frank Ocean’s song Think About You was used. While I’m not usually a big fan of more hip hop type stuff, this worked for me. Michaelá, in my opinion, absolutely nailed it. The whole thing was extremely tight and very precise, which I have to appreciate, considering how sloppily I move.
“Time,” featuring a Paul Cardall song by the same name, was choreographed and performed by Leslie W. J. Howard IV. The piece starts off with him reading a letter and while the audience never sees the actual contents of it, we see his reaction: his anger, his grief and his eventual coming to a place of at least being okay. It was probably the most heartfelt piece of the entire evening. I loved its applicability. Whether an unforeseen break-up, the death of someone close to you or just the end of one of your dreams, we’ve all had those nights when the tears take us over. This was a fantastic expression of that.
“Sail,” also using a song by the same name by Awolnation, was probably the cleverest dance of the evening. Danced by Ebonie Harrell, Carly Hill, Shannon Jester, Ashley Spicer and Jenna York, who also served as the choreographer. I’m not entirely sure how to label the song. If someone played it around me, I would have no idea how to dance to it. Jenna not only figured it out but made it into one of the most fascinating things I’ve seen. The dancing seems to speed up and then slow down, which gives a really startling and interesting visual component.
Megan’s Memories” was probably the most erfectly choreographed dance I have ever seen. Choreographed by Sarah McCormick and danced by Megan Riley to the song Mémoires de Futur by René Aubry. The piece is slow and contemplative and, therefore, probably terribly difficult technically. I’d never seen Megan Riley perform, so far as I know, and for that, I am incredibly sorry. She is one heck of an actress.
The last dance of the night was “Copasetic Sexy Jazz,” choreographed by Ashleigh Morrow to the song Feelin’ Good by Michael Bublé. As this was a rather large number, I’ll refrain from listing the names of the dancers, as I’ve already gone on much too long. In this piece I found my only problem with the entire performance. The dancers had shirts that spelled out “Feelin’ Good!!” on the back. Being a grammar Nazi, the double exclamation point bothered me very much. The dancing itself was brilliant, however.
Please note that I have not listed by name all the dancers or dances for the sake of space and time.
If you missed “Dance Until the World Ends,” then I pity you, because it was divine.
