If Dartmouth had a celebrity A-list, SHEBA would probably top it. That's one reason an undercurrent of anticipation was palpable on Saturday morning, as the dance group commenced with this year's auditions. At 10:30 a.m., students clad in black dance pants and sneakers tentatively started trickling in and signing up for time slots, all the while glancing nervously at the more relaxed SHEBA members milling behind the sign-up table.
"We're looking for people who have personal style, stage presence and a good rhythm" said Blair Dickinson '04, a veteran SHEBA member and the group's co-director. Since the group also practices up to ten hours a week, they were also looking for committed recruits. This year, 21 would-be SHEBA dancers were there to show them they had what it takes.
The students trying out were from varying dance backgrounds, creating quite an eclectic group. Some were ballerinas with professional experience, while others were more geared toward jazz, modern, hip-hop and even African dance.
Christine Terada '07, hailing from Hawaii, studied ballet for 15 years and had recently taken a number of jazz and modern dance classes. "I want to join SHEBA because I would like to continue dancing in college" she said, adding that she had choreographed her required individual dance the previous night in her dorm room.
After an ice-breaking few minutes of group stretching, the auditions officially took off with an informal introduction by each of the SHEBA members and an added "don't be worried about being nervous" pep talk by Johnny Lee '02, former SHEBA director.
The first section consisted of each student performing their originally choreographed individual dances. The second section entailed a group dance taught by the current SHEBA members. The latter was designed to see how well and how quickly each prospective new member learned the moves.
Each individual dance lasted approximately one to two minutes and was enthusiastically applauded by the audience. Fellow auditioning dancers and a number of personal cheerleaders, not to mention the SHEBA members themselves cheered with encouraging camaraderie at each dancer's expressiveness.
The more provocative moves prompted good-natured hoots. "There's a lot of ass-shaking" noted one observer laughingly after one particularly body-gyrating performance.
Strings of pirouettes, animated break-dancing and spirited heel-toe were just a few of the moves the dancers chose to incorporate into their pieces. Accompanying music included the works of artists such as Janet Jackson and Christina Aguilera.
Dickinson was pleased with what she saw in the first round but noted that "now we have to look for group dynamics and how they'll work with other people" said Dickinson.
"There were a lot of really good people and I got so nervous " I was shaking the entire time and I even forgot my dance for a few seconds!" said one '07, while another agreed that it was difficult to perform "when you're doing it by yourself."
The second section of the tryouts proved more challenging for most. SHEBA members each took aside a small group of students and taught them the same dance sequence. Expressions of intense concentration flitted across the dancers' faces, while groans and short exclamations of dismay accompanied mistakes. After a few minutes of teaching the dance, the music was turned on so that the beat could complement the moves.
"We usually pay close attention to this part of the audition" said Lee, "because as much as we value individual style, we have to see if the person can pick up on SHEBA's unique style even if they're from different backgrounds."
Groups of three now had to perform the sequence they had just learned. In order to make sure each person received keen appraisal, each group had to repeat the dance three times.
"I think it was more comforting dancing with two other people" said one '07 student after her turn.
Callbacks for ten out of the 21 people auditioning were held the next day in the fencing room of the gym. After starting once more with introductions, the second round plunged right into business. More hip-hop and pop/jazz was taught and evaluated by SHEBA.
However, the latter part of the callbacks had a slightly different twist, as the men and women were split up and taught different gender-based dances. "The girls are now going to learn what we call the 'sexy girls dances' and the boys are doing the more masculine stuff" explained Dickinson.
Although the majority of people who audition for SHEBA are women, the group's composition is currently about 50-50. What makes this statistic curious is that there is no gender "quota," nor a fixed number of members. "Last year we picked two, and the year before we picked eight, and we honestly have no idea how many we're going to pick until the actual deliberations" said SHEBA's Stuart Leung '05.
SHEBA's head count becomes rather confusing when one takes into account how many are "off" this term, one of whom is a co-director. "Two members graduated but as one is still on campus, I guess you can say that only one member left" said Leung.
The low on-campus member count was one of the reasons Lee and Tommy Kim '02, also known as DJ Twix, came back to Dartmouth, this week to help out with auditions. "SHEBA was the best thing I got involved with at Dartmouth, which is why I want to keep giving support and helping out" said Lee.
"We're really impressed with the talent we've seen so far. It's a great mix of music and style," said Dickinson, "It's the best group I've seen so far in my SHEBA history."
Judging by the testimonies of these former and current members, the six new SHEBA recruits are also in for an enviably hectic experience in the Dartmouth spotlight. Their identities will be unveiled at the first performance of the term at the benefit for the Children's Hospital, which will be held on Friday, October 1 at Collis Commonground.
