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The Dartmouth
March 28, 2024 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Subtleties, DStyle and SHEBA shine in Winter WhingDing

The Subtleties hosted Winter WhingDing and sang pieces by a variety of artists, including Rihanna and Taylor Swift.
The Subtleties hosted Winter WhingDing and sang pieces by a variety of artists, including Rihanna and Taylor Swift.

This past Saturday, Dartmouth all-female a cappella group the Subtleties showcased their talents in their Winter WhingDing Concert in Spaulding Auditorium, along with freestyle rap group DStyle and dance group SHEBA.

Led by Subtleties president Jordyn Turner ’16, the group began the show with a video that showed members realizing they were late for the concert and alerting each other one by one before running to the Hopkins Center for the Arts in a flurry of winter coats and colorful scarves. The group, now dressed in white, ran out onto the stage as a live continuation of the video and breathlessly delved into an energetic medley of Taylor Swift songs, including “Blank Space,” “Love Story,” “You Belong With Me,” “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” Liza Couser ’17, Tess McGuinness ’18 and Anna Gottardi ’17 performed solos for the medley.

The group continued with a quiet and moving rendition of “Make You Feel My Love” by Adele, sung by Elena Alicea ’16, and the emotional “The Mother We Share” by CHVRCHES, with Turner soloing. After the three pieces, Turner officially introduced the Subtleties and the next featured group, DStyle.

DStyle opened with a freestyle rap that was set to a beat by beatboxers Anup Chamrajnagar ’18 and Elena Ridker ’16 and melody sung by Latika Sridhar ’16. DStyle’s method of performance includes improvisation and audience participation. One such improvised piece, “My Favorite Things,” was set to the melody of a song of the same name from the musical “The Sound of Music” (1965). Using topics proposed by the audience, members Victor Muchatuta ’16, Ricky Berman ’18 and Aaron Cheese ’18 rapped about favorites such as cotton candy and brushing one’s hair.

Their next piece, “Person, Place and Thing,” called for audience members to name a person, place and thing to rap about. Kyle Tarantino ’18 was given the topic of Voldemort, Josh Koenig ’16 rapped about Applebee’s, the restaurant, and Alec Tarantino ’16 rapped about skis.

When next asked to name a movie, audience members called out “Mean Girls” (2004), at which point Tarantino, Koenig and Cheese were given a minute, thirty seconds and ten seconds respectively to rap a summary of the film.

Finally, the audience was asked to name a favorite food and dessert as part of a “Love Song for Food,” in light of Valentine’s Day. Upon receiving sushi and Foco cookies as suggestions, Sridhar set the melody with John Legend’s “All of Me,” and the group members rapped about their appreciation for the suggested food items.

Upon concluding their performance, DStyle returned backstage and the Subtleties emerged in edgier black-and-leather accessories along with their previously all-white outfits to perform Rihanna and Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie.” The song featured Cheese and Berman of DStyle and Maya Srinivasan ’18 as rap soloists, as well as Hannah Matheson ’18 as a vocal soloist. The Subtleties also performed “Stitches” by Shawn Mendes with Claire Alcus ’18 as the soloist and “Shots” by Imagine Dragons before handing the stage over to dance group SHEBA.

Performing in their characteristic hip-hop dance style, SHEBA’s set was dynamic and invigorating, with well-coordinated collaboration between the group’s members.

The Subtleties returned to the stage after SHEBA’s set, this time dressed in all black, to perform “What Now” by Rihanna with soloist Virginia Ogden ’18. Their final song was “Don’t Wait” by Mapei with a solo by Zahra Ruffin ’17.

Christian Williams ’19, an audience member, said that he thought the show was incredibly well done and all of the performers seemed to have worked extremely hard in preparation for the concert.

“It’s incredible to see how much talent went into this show and these groups,” Williams said.

Natalie Kwan ’18, who also watched the show, said that Winter WhingDing was one of her favorite parts of Winter Carnival because she was able to see a more extended performance from one a cappella group, compared to shorter shows at fraternities throughout the year. She said that she also enjoyed the DStyle and SHEBA performances because they kept the audience involved and engaged. She added that her favorite part of the concert was the Taylor Swift medley opener.

“What was neat was as the show progressed, they changed from all-white dresses to white and black outfits and then to all-black dresses — that gave each segment of the show a different feel,” Kwan said.

Hansa Sharma ’19, an audience member, said that the concert was a great way to spend the night with friends because it brought together three different performing styles in one night. She said that she thought freestyle rap was an interesting method of performance and that she enjoyed how the Subtleties had hosted the event. She also enjoyed the Taylor Swift medley and the SHEBA performance.

“[SHEBA] had such high energy and they were super awesome,” Sharma said. “I [also] really liked DStyle’s ‘Person, Place or Thing’ because of the random answers ­— Voldemort, Applebee’s and skis. I thought it was very funny.”

Sharma is a member of The Dartmouth opinion staff.