Mark your calendars, because debuting this Sunday is an event you will not want to miss. At 3 and 7 p.m., head over to the University Center Commonwealth Auditorium to see Pointe Blank, a student-run dance group on campus, present its fall show. The program will be a showcase of student-choreographed dance, glitzy costumes and catchy music.
Pointe Blank is a co-ed company, currently numbering 26 members. It is entirely student run, funded only by its members and by revenue from its shows. In addition, a portion of the sales from the upcoming show will be donated to Students Helping Honduras. The company puts on two shows a year, one in the fall and one in the spring. In the past, they have also been invited to perform at other events, such as Admitted Students Day and Sadlerpalooza.
p. Pointe Blank is known for putting on shows with many different kinds of dance represented, making each of their shows different, refreshing and full of surprises.
p. “I really like Pointe Blank because it’s dancing that the college audience can relate to more than some of the other dance groups on campus,” freshman Hannah Goldberg, who joined the company this fall, said. “It’s much more relaxed, and it’s a lot of fun.”
p. “We have a lot of new members, so it’s a pretty young company,” junior Marie Carillo, Pointe Blank’s president, said. “The diversity of the show is really good this year — there’s hip-hop, jazz, tap, lyrical, modern … a lot of different types of dance are included.”
p. Carillo choreographed a hip-hop dance to Nelly Furtado’s “Promiscuous” for the show, featuring two male and two female dancers. She also appears in two very distinct tap dances.
“One is to ‘Singing in the Rain,’ and the other is to a song by the Black Eyed Peas. The first is more classical, and the other is more hip-hop tap,” Carillo said. “There’s also an all-boys dance near the end — there are some very fun costumes involved in that one.”
p. The all male dance will be set to the song “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back),” by the Backstreet Boys. It is entitled “Boys’ Dance is Back.”
p. “It’s a Pointe Blank tradition each semester to do a boys’ dance choreographed by all the guys and danced by all the guys,” senior Evan Cook said. “Because of technical problems, we couldn’t do it last year, so we’re really excited to bring that back.”
The finale will involve the entire company dancing to a Michael Jackson song.
p. The company holds weekly rehearsals, and while auditions are usually held in the fall, a second round of auditions will be held this spring because the current company is fairly small.
p. “We need more boys, especially underclassmen,” Cook said. “We’re always looking for more guys, and any guy with even minimal dance experience is encouraged to try out in the spring.”
p. So this Sunday afternoon or evening, put down those books and come out to the UC Commonwealth for a study break. It’s a steal to see this highly-talented company in action for only $4.