SHEBA's 10th anniversary show this Sunday night at 8 p.m. promises to be huge, according to several of the dance troupe's members.
"It will be something that this College has never seen before," said SHEBA co-director Kimberly Marable '05. "I think we've really accomplished a feat here."
The eagerly anticipated event will feature routines set to 25 songs from the last decade, as well as senior bios and video clips.
Moreover, Sunday's show at Leede Arena will be the last for the eight '05s in SHEBA. This year marks the largest number of graduating seniors that the group has ever had.
"It's really bittersweet, because the eight of us will probably never dance again," said co-director Kristin Hayden '05, referring to the fact that very few SHEBA alumni end up pursuing post-college careers in hip-hop.
Members are quick to point out that the seniors' time at Dartmouth has been concurrent with a rising general interest in hip-hop at the college.
"Hip-hop is very complex," said Marable, "and it's great that some place as remote as Dartmouth is being exposed to it."
"Slam poetry shows, spoken word performances and rappers are being brought up to Dartmouth, so you can see some of the ways that hip-hop culture has been diffused into the college," Marable said. "In fact, I've seen more hip-hop artists come up this term than I've seen in the rest of my time here." She mentions respected hip-hop visionary Talib Kweli -- who performed at Dartmouth earlier this spring -- as an example.
Marable reflected on how SHEBA has aged since its inception. "I think we're very different from the SHEBA that the founders in '95 had in mind," she offered, pointing to the larger size of the group, the more technical choreography and the increasingly diverse acts as reasons.
The group has particularly changed over the four years that the current seniors have been at the college.
"My freshman year, we were about Janet Jackson," said Marable, adding that SHEBA now uses songs that are more properly hip-hop. She also talks about the increased diversity in acts, saying, "We do a lot of popping and locking, breaking, and jazzy and lyrical stuff now."
SHEBA shows have been attracting a wider range of Dartmouth students, according to Hayden. "We used to have a strong following but it was all the same people," said Hayden. "Now, it's a different sort of crowd."
The oldest song that the group will be using is "Sexiest" by the So So Def Bass All-Stars, which the founding members of SHEBA used in their own shows.
Within the group, the dance is nicknamed "Booty." "Obviously, it involves a lot of booty-shaking," said Marable.
Senior members expressed appreciation for the opportunities that SHEBA has given them.
"It was my favorite part of Dartmouth," said SHEBA member Lindsay Ferstandig '05.
Fellow SHEBA member Stuart Leung '05 added that he was able to develop his interest in hip-hop at Dartmouth more than he was able to in high school, despite having grown up in New York City. "A lot of the experience of being in SHEBA was the ability to learn from other people -- people that had more experience than I did," said Leung.
Sunday's show represents the documentation of an era for one of the oldest and most popular dance groups on campus. Sure to be exciting, it is an experience that is definitely not to be missed.