Movement Variations gives seniors a last dance together in Spring showcase Saturday

Kaley Richard
Thu, 20 Apr 2023 00:33:20 +0000
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Movement Variations performs their annual spring showcase in the Ohio Union Performance Hall. Credit: Courtesy of Haleigh Shafer?

Movement Variations has worked all semester to get its spring showcase ready to perform and send off its seniors Saturday at 5 p.m. in the Ohio Union Performance Hall.

At the end of the fall semester following its Buckeyethon performance, the club held auditions to pick student choreographers for its spring showcase — which includes hip-hop, contemporary, jazz and heels genres — Erica English, a fourth-year in marketing and president of Movement Variations, said.

“We want a variety of styles. We want a variety of all different things just to keep it interesting for the audience,” English said.

The spring showcase is bittersweet for the fourth-year members of Movement Variations since it will be their last time performing all together, English said.

“Earlier when we joined the team, it was right in the middle of COVID, so this will only be our second showcase that we’ll get to have even though we’ve been on the team for four years,” English said.

English and Lacy Slaats, a fourth-year in dance and vice president of Movement Variations, have been in Movement Variations since 2020 during their first year at Ohio State. They said the members are all tight-knit and enjoy spending time with each other.

“At a university that’s so large, these are people who I probably would have never met if it wasn’t for Movement Variations,” English said. “It’s really cool to have that group of people who share similar interests but also different interests that you can learn from.”

Slaats said she’s choreographed a dance for the showcase every year she’s been a member, including this one.

“I’m always really excited to see my dance that I’ve choreographed, like getting to watch a video afterwards and share it with people,” Slaats said.

Some dancers enjoy having the opportunity to choreograph and others just like to express themselves through dance, English said. The club is open to everyone of every experience level, she said.

The ability to choreograph a dance was one of the main reasons Slaats said she joined Movement Variations.

“There’s not a lot of other places where you have the opportunity to have 20-plus people who are willing to just be a body in your dance to have it come to life and have a free space where you can do that is what really got me interested in it,” Slaats said.