The stage is illuminated by a faint blue light, revealing a group of dancers huddled together in a group. As the first note of the song rings out, members of the audience begin cheering with excitement. One dancer from the group springs up and begins shaking to the beat and the rest start jumping in two at a time. When everyone settles into place on stage and begins dancing in unison, kicking at the same time and throwing their arms up with the music, there’s a resounding cheer from the energetic crowd.
This type of enthusiastic audience participation is all part of the experience at diSiac Dance Company’s annual winter performance. The University-based company is run entirely by students and specializes in lively performances of contemporary, hip-hop and lyrical dance pieces.
This year’s show is set to take place on Thursday, Dec. 10 and Friday, Dec. 11 in McCarter Theater Center’s Berlind Theater, with performances at both 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. DiSiac’s theme for the show is “Legend,” and all of the dance numbers are inspired by the stories of Greek mythology.
“This show’s going to be a little bit different from our others because we’re really trying to weave together a continuous story throughout the performance,” said Alexandra Loh, the group’s publicity chair member. Loh is a junior at Princeton studying psychology, and has been dancing with the group since her freshman year.
“We really encouraged all the choreographers to come up with a story first, and how it relates to Greek mythology,” she said. “A lot of our pieces are related to a specific god or goddess, or a specific story in Greek mythology.”
DiSiac was founded in 1998 and is one of the newest dance companies at Princeton. The club started off small with a group of students looking for an alternative outlet for dance. The members began performing at the smallest black box theaters around campus and the company has since grown to showcase their talents at Richardson and the Berlind Theaters.
DiSiac is made up of 47 dancers who represent a wide range of dance experience. While some members have been training in classical ballet since the age of 3, others came into the audition without ever having learned a choreographed dance before.
Loh said “Legends” will be made up of contemporary and hip hop pieces and will include different artistic elements woven in throughout the show. Several pieces will be set to live music by a string quartet and some will include the use of film projection.
“This show we’re experimenting with using other art forms,” Loh said. “We try to put something out that we consider to be artistic and that has value. It’s a story that has meaning to us… and I think it’s better for the audience because they can put together what they think the piece means.”
The performance will also feature several pieces involving slam poetry. In one, the poet describes an experience and the dancers each represent specific emotions, showcasing the various ways that he could have coped with the situation. It’s not dancing to slam poety, Loh says, but the different art forms will be intertwined in diSiac’s show.
Performances of diSiac’s winter show will be held on Dec. 10 and 11 at both 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. at the Berlind Theater. Tickets for the show are $9 for students and $12 for all others.
Princeton University’s diSiac Dance Company combines contemporary and hip-hop dance forms into its shows, which are open to the public.,
