This weekend, DanceWorks will celebrate its 30th anniversary during its annual spring showcase.

The performance is scheduled to have about 16 numbers and will take place this Friday and Saturday in Goldstein Auditorium.

The theme of this year’s showcase is “Just Dance,” a play on the Nike slogan “Just Do It.” Leah Estillero, a senior civil engineering major and the director of the organization, said the theme was chosen to celebrate dance as a sport, and more than just an art form.

DanceWorks is a student-run, audition-based dance organization with over 80 active members. Every year, the spring performance features a wide range of dance styles, including hip hop, tap, contemporary, lyrical and jazz.

Raychel Renna, a junior political science major and co-public relations chair of DanceWorks, said attendees can expect to see diversity within each of the isolated styles performed at the showcase.

“For example, all of the hip hops are very different,” she said. “I think people can really expect a great deal of creativity and differences between dances.”

Members of the organization have been rehearsing for the two-night event since October. One of the common chords struck among dancers interviewed was that DanceWorks has given them a social outlet to continue their love of dance beyond high school and into college.

Adriana Gnagnarelli, a sophomore transfer student and undecided major in the College of Arts and Sciences, expressed her happiness at being able to continue her love of dance, which she’s been doing since she was 2 years old.

“At my old school, there was nothing like it so coming here, it was so nice to have that dance outlet,” Gnagnarelli said. “DanceWorks has provided me so much — from meeting people and friends to being able to do my passion again.”

Gnagnarelli said her favorite memory from DanceWorks so far has been the audition process, as it was the very first time she was able to meet everyone in the organization and see all of the members’ different dance styles.

A challenge DanceWorks faced this year, Renna said, was an increase in the number of other dance organizations founded at SU. They’ve had to compete to get the best dancers for DanceWorks, Renna said, but despite this, DanceWorks has an advantage: it is audition-based and has a level of professionalism other groups don’t.

In addition to being on the organization’s board, Renna is a choreographer for a hip-hop number in the performance. Those attending can expect a “sexy, girly and hard-hitting” piece choreographed to a mashup of Nicki Minaj songs for her piece this year, she said.

Estillero also choreographed a hip-hop piece for this year’s showcase, and will also be performing in contemporary and jazz numbers. But she said she’s most excited and feels “bittersweet” about her senior year coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the organization.

“It feels like just yesterday when I auditioned,” Estillero said. “I didn’t think I’d be in the position I am now, running the organization, seeing all the parts that make us who we are. It’s going to be so hard to let go.”

Published on March 2, 2016 at 10:31 pm

Contact Karli: kgasteig@syr.edu