Combining the style of Broadway musicals, fast-paced dance music and everything in between, Pointe Blank presents its spring show Sunday with new and improved dances that highlight the diverse styles and abilities of the group’s members.
“We go from a gansta hip-hop dance to emotional lyrical dances to high energy Broadway dances,” Lisa Bateman ’09, president of Pointe Blank, said. “I think this makes the show really fun for the audience.”
The show opens with a dance called “Griar en el Fuego,” a vibrant and lively hip-hop dance choreographed by Sana Klein ’11.
“This dance is straight-up baller,” Bateman said. “It’s a hip-hop dance to a mix of the songs ‘Fuego’ and ‘Gyrate’ … and there’s not much else to say except that it’s pretty bad-ass.” The dance combines these songs with recent dance moves, resulting in a more modern dance.
This show includes more types of music and dance than past Pointe Blank performances have.
“This semester, our show features a number from the Broadway
musical-turned-movie ‘Hairspray,’ ‘The Ladies’ Choice,’ co-choreographed by Lisa Bateman and [myself], and a number from the musical ‘Fosse,’ ‘Bye Bye Blackbird,’ choreographed by Lydia Higgs ’10,” Pointe Blank Publicity Officer Hannah Gardner ’11 said.
The Broadway-inspired dances are some of the members’ favorite to perform and choreograph.
“The tap dance [‘Bye, Bye Blackbird’] is a Broadway show-inspired piece with five dancers,” Higgs said. “It features technical tap sounds … and a short kickline. The jazz piece is a technical duet and features several difficult leaps and a turn sequence.”
Since the group has expanded to include male dancers this semester, Pointe Blank includes more variation in dancers’ moves.
“Last semester was the first time since I’ve been in the company that there were no boys,” Bateman said. “While last semester’s show was wonderful, the boys definitely add to our dynamic. We have a wonderful lyrical dance with partner lifts choreographed by Kathryn Hansen ’10 that we would never be able to do without male performers.”
Another modification the male dancers bring to the performance is the return of the all-male dance.
“This semester marks the return of the ‘Boys’ Dance,’” Bateman said. “This dance is generally a silly, fun dance put together by the male performers a few weeks before the show — but not this year. Kyle Brent ’10 choreographed the dance at the beginning of the year, and the boys have been practicing hard every week to perfect it.”
All the dances Pointe Blank performs are student-choreographed.
“Lisa [Bateman] and I tried to choreograph ‘The Ladies’ Choice’ with the Hairspray style in mind — keeping the steps quick and stylized,” Gardner said. “We included some fun partner work, flips and lifts … [W]e have Matt LaBrie ’11 acting as the singer of the song, Link Larkin, to make the dance even more entertaining.”
Performances are Sunday at 3 and 7 p.m. in the University Center Commonwealth Auditorium. Tickets are $4 at the door, and $1 from every ticket will be donated to AIDS Tanzania.
