The Etownian >> Opinion

Emotion strays from mission; dances cut

Jonathan S. Gamble

Staff Writer

Thursday May 06 2010

I didn’t know much about Emotion before writing this article. I thought I knew what most every student who has gone to the club’s semester shows thinks: these people love to dance for fun while forming lasting friendships. Emotion, I thought, was a healthy outlet for our creativity, fun and teamwork. Emotion, I thought, was very accepting of dancers with a range in skill level. Emotion, I thought, wasn’t trying to be an uppity and capricious dance troupe. I thought wrong.

Imagine that an experienced group of people from any club or organization had been allowed and encouraged to work hard for great lengths of time on their presentations under the assumption that they would be given the chance to present them. Now imagine that a group of less experienced people ran that same club, held the most power, and watched these members work hard for their last chance to say goodbye before imparting their cowardly decision to terminate that chance through a cold and curt e-mail without adequately consulting the interests of that group and club at large.

The senior number is that chance, and the Emotion Cabinet is comprised only of sophomores and juniors who decided to terminate it simply because it wasn’t to their fancy — it wasn’t “clean” enough. If you would like to appease the Emotion Cabinet’s fancy in the future, please do the following:

1) Get those thoughts of unconventional styles like salsa, African, or modern out of your head; it’s business time (Yes, this is a Flight of the Concords shout out).
2) Don’t be a beginner.
3) Work really hard, but understand that it may count for nothing.
4) Expect, as members, to give them unbridled power over what dances make the cut, and expect to have no say about the identity of your own club.

The reason why the senior number wasn’t up to their par was the Cabinet’s fault. The dance was given one-third less practice time than all the other dances. Coincidence? In addition, the senior number’s level of difficulty was much higher than the other dances because its choreographers had the challenge of incorporating four different dance styles and a wide range of talent.

“To cut this dance is not only an insult to us as choreographers, but to the people that have worked hard to participate in this dance,” said Emotion member and choreographer Stephen Roussel. “I am extremely hurt that the Cabinet would cut this dance, as it is dedicated to all seniors, and not stand up and say that they would be willing to work with us to make it a better dance, more ‘adequate’ for Cabinet’s approval for the show. In my four years here, there has only been one other number cut, and it was well justified. This is not the case for this dance.”

While many of the dance’s members were absent for the showing, the Cabinet refused to reconsider and allow a second showing, or to work with the dancers to get the number ready for the show this Friday.

“I was really looking forward to participating in Emotion again. As a non-dancer, I had a chance to learn about dance and participate in the show,” senior Caitlin Russell, a newcomer to Emotion, said. “I have a very busy semester now and was only able to participate in one dance. I chose the senior number because there was an opportunity to do a variety of styles of dance, and many of my friends were also in the number. I am extremely disappointed and upset that something I put time and hard work into was canceled without any thought to what Emotion is supposed to support (promoting the art of dance to both dancers and non-dancers) or that it is a student club, not a professional club.”

The senior number should be allowed to be performed before the Emotion leadership continues to radically redefine the club’s identity without its members’ consent to do so.





The Etownian >> Opinion