Sugarplum was founded in Fall 2009 by Casey Aylward '13 and Alexis Zavras '13. Every Tuesday, the group gathers at 5:30 p.m. to practice what Aylward describes as "a mix of contemporary ballet and jazz." Sugarplum's members select a range of tracks for their dances, from Michael Buble's jazzy "Home" to the high-energy hip hop of "That's Not My Name" by Ting Ting.
Aylward is a member of The Dartmouth Staff.
Practices run similarly to a typical jazz or hip-hop class after 10 to 20 minutes of stretching, the group moves on to learning choreography. Yet, unlike a typical class, Sugarplum has no official instructor. Instead, students choreograph their dances and then teach the number to the rest of the group.
Aylward and Zavras have both been dancing since they were two years old, they said. After meeting in their Writing 5 class during their freshman Fall, they discovered they were both frustrated by the lack of dance groups on campus that don't come with a giant time commitment something both Zavras and Aylward had decided they did not want at Dartmouth.
"There were weeks where I was dancing for more hours than I spent in school," Zavras said, referring to her dance experience in high school.
Not willing to give up dance entirely, however, the girls said they decided to start an informal group that could offer past dancers a chance to dance in college, without paying a class fee.
Further, both Zavras and Aylward said that their involvement in Sugarplum has allowed them to forge relationships with their peers.
"There's something about dance when you come together with a group to dance, a unique kind of bond forms that you can only get through dance," Zavras said.
Sugarplum's practice sessions reflect Zavra's sentiment rehearsals are filled with laughter and the dancers clearly understand each others' dance styles and preferences.
Presently, Sugarplum remains a casual opportunity for students to gather for dance just once a week. According to Zavras, however, the group is open to heading in a more performance-oriented direction, especially once the dancers grow more established.
Another troupe has already begun performing XS Crew, started by Michelle Berlinger '13 which focuses purely on hip-hop dance. Unlike Sugarplum, XS held auditions and practices are open only to members.
Berlinger, whose main focus before coming to Dartmouth was ballet, said she wanted to create an alternative to Sheba, the only other exclusively hip-hop dance group on campus.
"I was talking to my community director at McLaughlin [residence cluster,] who had danced hip hop in college. He helped me start it with two other '13s," Berlinger said.
XS currently has seven members but will hold auditions next term in order to expand their membership to 12. Although the group practices four days a week for well over an hour each time, members enjoy making the large time commitment, she said.
"Our Saturday practices are optional, but everyone still comes because it's so fun," Berlinger said.
According to Berlinger, XS also hopes its focus on hip-hop will expose the campus to fresh music.
"Instead of just introducing a new style of dance to Dartmouth, we'd like to bring some new music to the scene, too," Berlinger said, explaining that the group's dances are choreographed to a mix of underground hip-hop, "typical frat music," and hits from the 1990s.
According to Berlinger, XS aims to have two major performances per term at Greek houses in addition to several free community service performances. Berlinger added that, because XS is technically a community service group, they hope to contribute to the community by holding open practices.
"Starting next term, we're going to have specific practices for non-members, where we will teach them some of our dances for free," she said.
A third group, a religious dance troupe called For Your Glory, focuses on a type of dance that is vastly different from the hip hop and jazz of XS and Sugarplum. Founded by Racquel Bernard '13, the group practices praise dance, a genre set to gospel music. The movements often "act out" the meaning of each song, Bernard said.
"When I came to Dimensions last year, I attended the cultural expressions performance and noticed that there weren't any praise dance troupes," Bernard said. "I was involved with one back in my hometown, so I wanted to bring that to Dartmouth."
Since it was founded last Fall and recognized by COSO this term, For Your Glory has performed in various showcases on campus and in local churches, including Sunday night's "Praise Showcase" at Cutter-Shabazz residence hall, in which they performed alongside X.ado and other campus groups.
For Your Glory practices two days a week for two hours, with an optional practice on the weekend. Before a big showcase, they practice every day, Bernard said.
Despite the differences in the goals of each group, Sugarplum, XS and For Your Glory have at least one thing in common: each group relies on the collaboration of its members to come up with choreography for their numbers. Adult instructors are noticeably absent students teach each other the dances that they have made themselves.
"It's truly a collaborative effort," Bernard said.
