Dancing my way through 60x60!

    I can’t believe that the 60x60 dance performances were two weeks ago! 60x60 was the show put on by the ONU dance company. Essentially, the central concept was that we performed 60 dances in 60 minutes, making each piece one minute in duration. There were no transitions or pauses between each dance, so the audience went through a whirwill of emotions, which the director and choreographers intended since they didn’t have time to mentally prepare for the next piece. While I was only in six pieces total, including the finale, I want to share my experience participating as a freshman in my first dance show here at ONU. 

    We had about two and a half weeks to put this show together. Basically, we had a specific date and only one hour to learn the choreography of each piece we were in, and then later in the week, we might have had a rehearsal to clean, depending on how long it took for the cast to learn the material. This meant that we weren’t practicing each dance every night. Some of my dances required more rehearsal, and others didn’t, so it was a very touch-and-go process. The order in which the dances were shown was crucial to ensure the audience felt what each piece intended. After a dance order was randomly generated, we started running through the show in the theatre space at the Freed Performing Arts Center. I am so impressed with the fact that we were able to put on this show with such a small amount of rehearsal time, and I am grateful to have been a part of the process. 

    One thing I learned was how many great dancers ONU has. Growing up as a dancer, I was worried about two big things: 1. It was going to be difficult for me to adjust to new techniques, and 2. I wasn’t going to be able to rise to the challenges presented by the school. I know that I am not the best dancer out there, and often, I feel like I need a push to remind myself of the things I need to work on. I knew that some of the techniques taught would likely be different than what I am used to, and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to adjust quickly. Coming from a heavy ballet environment, my teachers taught dance in a particular way, so I wasn’t sure if I could get out of the habits I had built at my studio. I didn’t do a ton of musical theatre dancing growing up, so that was one challenge I knew I would face when I got to the school, and I wasn’t sure how I would deal with that challenge. I am glad I have been pushed to work outside of my comfort zone, and I am not sure this would have happened at other schools. I still need to work on getting out of my head when it comes to learning new things, and this show has taught me this very important lesson. A small concern I had was that since ONU doesn’t offer a dance major, our dance community could lack experienced dancers. Man, was I wrong!

    Because of how rehearsals were structured, I didn’t get to see most of the dances in the show until tech week, when the cast could sit in the house and watch. My mind was blown at this point, and my mindset completely changed about our dance program. The number of good technical dancers who were a part of this show was incredible, and I was utterly blown away. My mindset instantly changed, not only because I recognized that there were better dancers than me but because I became even more motivated to get stronger and focus on breaking down my technique.  

    I am grateful that I was given the chance to be a part of this fantastic show because I grew both mentally and physically. My technique feels, to me, just as strong as when I graduated high school, but I now have a better, stronger mindset, and that’s the best combination, in my opinion. I also met so many new and amazing people through this show. Since there were a variety of grades within this show, I was able to foster friendships with upperclassmen that I didn’t get to see otherwise. I hope I have the opportunity to do more dance productions throughout the next few years and create more relationships with kind and talented people.  

My friend Lindsay and I in our duet. This was during the invited dress rehearsal. This incredible picture by @ScottSusong from Facebook

This is a behind the scenes look into the hip hop piece I was in but I was sick this day so I had to wear a mask. Picture from @_miasmoments on instagram