One weekend, three dance troupes—students can take their pick

When CoLab, CBC, and Orchesis are put together in one weekend, dance lovers get much more than an amalgam of abbreviations. These three Barnard and Columbia dance troupes will present their fall showcases from Nov. 18 to 20.

CoLab, an eclectic Barnard dance group, performs Friday, Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 19 at 2 and 7:30 p.m., in the Glicker-Milstein Theatre (better known as the Diana Black Box). Students can reserve free tickets at the TIC.

The Columbia Ballet Collaborative showcases its production on Friday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 19 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. The first three performances will be at the Manhattan Movement and Arts Center Theatre (248 W. 60th St., between West End and 10th avenues). The Sunday performance will take place in Barnard’s Marion Streng Studio. Tickets are $7 with a CUID, $15 without, and are available online or at the door.

The third dance group, Orchesis, performs metamORCHESIS on Friday, Nov. 18 at 9 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 20 at 2 p.m., in Lerner Hall’s Roone Arledge Auditorium. Tickets are $5 with a CUID and $10 without at the TIC.

Much time and effort are put into creating these dance performances. Each of the various pieces that makes up CoLab’s show has been rehearsed for at least two hours a week. “Every few weeks, we have a ‘group showing’ where we give feedback and comment on everyone’s work,” CoLab co-president Nicole Cerutti, BC ’12, said. There are 30 to 35 dancers in the troupe, and the dances are choreographed by individual undergraduate students.

“Part of our group mission statement is focusing on the process,” CoLab co-president Taryn McGovern, BC ’13, said. “It tends to generate more experimental and abstract work. We’re more casual than the other groups, so we definitely welcome people to stick around after and give feedback.”

The co-presidents maintain some mystery around their performance. “Expect surprises,” Cerutti said.

McGovern added, “The type of dance is very hard to define. It’s really all over the map and I think people will see a very diverse and exciting show.”

The second group, CBC, is a selective ballet group choreographed by professionals in NYC who apply to lead the group for the semester. Choreographers for this performance are Emery LeCrone, Kimi Nikaidoh, Lisa de Ribere, Bennyroyce Royon, Claudia Schreier, and Laura Ward.

“Our main choreographer has been with us since our first year, but lots of new and young choreographers in the city contact us. We have a space and dancers for them to work with,” said Caitlin Dieck, GS ’13 and CBC director of public relations.

The group’s fall performance will feature a variety of ballet styles. “Some pieces are more classical ballet and some are definitely not,” Dieck said. “Some people think of ballet as just ‘Swan Lake,’ but that’s definitely not all there is.”

CBC dancers practice together about four hours a week. Both the New York Times and Dance Magazine have covered CBC in recent years. Past articles have reviewed CBC performances and focused on the challenges of balancing ballet with a Barnard or Columbia education.

While CBC uses professional choreographers, Orchesis dances are student-choreographed. The group has been rehearsing for an hour a week since the first week of school. Orchesis guarantees that every dancer who auditions will be cast. This semester, there are about 170 dancers. “The biggest challenge was figuring out how to accommodate everyone,” Orchesis producer Victoria Pollack, BC ’12, said.

The dance troupe will feature multiple genres of dance, including ballet, jazz, tap, and modern. “We have more contemporary pieces in this show,” Pollack said, comparing it to other recent Orchesis shows. “We’ve added hip-hop interludes, which is exciting because we haven’t had a hip-hop piece in a couple semesters.”

The accompanying music is as diverse as the dance genres, ranging from Radiohead to instrumental covers. Pollack said, “We have a really fun show lined up. It’s engaging for the audience to watch someone who loves what she’s doing. There are so many different flavors of dance in this show. Say you don’t like classical ballet. Well, you’ll love our tap piece to Kanye West.”

All of these performances seem ready to showcase a broad range of genres to accommodate both the tastes of their dancers and those of a diverse audience. “The most important thing is for individual artists to see how the audience reacts and whether they’ve achieved what they meant to,” McGovern said.