We'll say it was love...

The dancers have commandeered the light.

But in a world that just keeps getting darker and darker, where do we even find a glimmer to steal? As a department we have seen many rough times; when we learned classical techniques in an unventilated attic for hours everyday, when we had to perform in the gym and got kicked out bc boys lacrosse wanted to stretch. We stuck together when they denied our right to perform on the main stage as equals to the acting and music departments, and through having to bypass the American College Dance Festival because of a lack of support from our own teachers. Yet through all this, all our fighting has been respectable. We have petitioned, set up meetings, and taken collective deep breaths when our fighting failed and we once again had to bite the bullet and take what we were handed. We wondered when enough was going to be enough.

This is enough.

When I came to Adelphi, the biannual Student Choreography Workshop was but a required final for no more than 6 students in dance composition classes. Since then the Workshop has grown into this amazing chance for us to show what we feel, finally say what we want to in whatever way we chose. Last semester there were close to 20 original pieces in the Workshop and while it was admittedly lengthy, to see so many young artists putting themselves out there was incredible. It is what I am most proud of in any legacy my class is leaving here. Today were the auditions for this spring's Student Choreography Workshop. While previously a formality and part of the learning process, we were informed this semester that they would be taken more seriously.

The "backstage" room during the auditions made me sick to my stomach. All my friends running around, beyond frazzled, making themselves ill worrying about how 3 smug superiors would react to their raw pieces. I looked around and saw people running phrases I'd seen them dance perfectly in rehearsal, I saw them forget easy steps and get upset at themselves. I saw choreographers not knowing what to say to calm down their psyched out dancers. And when it was my turn to go into to dreaded audition studio, I saw a couple of men who'd judged me before the music even came on. And while I giggled and fell in love with phrases of my pieces all over again, they sat there silent, expressionless, and checked me off a list.

A few hours later my phone was bombarded with unanswerable text messages. "Look at the list." "How can they do that to us?" "Help me understand." I nervously made my way to the dance office, abandoned by 3 in the afternoon, and sought out this list of who'd passed the morning's audition. I literally spent a good 30 seconds searching for the other half of this list. Less than a half of sheet of paper, the list shunned so many choreographers who had had something to tell an audience. The piece dearest to me was included in those rejected. I thought of all the nights we stayed in the studios till closing time just to run it one more time through. I saw all my dancers sweaty and sore, hungry but hopeful that these hours would be rewarding in the end. I thought of all the voices that had something to say and that were being told they were not good enough to speak out. And I felt adrenaline searing through my bloodstream with knowing intent of what I had to do.

In the calm before a rebellion, take your final deep breath.

We are having our own show. "Say It Was Love..." will be Friday, May 8th at 7pm in the PAC as an informal, chill get together of whoever has something to show. Think open mic night. Any pieces that were turned away from the department workshop are welcome, as are those that made it and wish to show again. Old pieces from workshops may visit as old friends would, as may classic diva impersonations and infamous air bands. Any audience members may pull up a chair and an acoustic guitar and tell us what they have to say. As an artist I prefer to see misfortunes as opportunities, and in response to this situation I'd like to invite anyone and everyone to join us in our humbled setting and enjoy the expressions of a handful of emerging voices.



"She said let's change our luck
This night is all we've got
Drive fast until we crash
This dead end life
Sweet dreams that won't come true
I'd leave it all for you
Brick walls are closing in
Let's make a run tonight.

Cuz if you jump, I will jump too
We will fall together
From the building's ledge
Never looking back at what we've done
We'll say it was love
Cause I would die for you
On Skyway Avenue"







...Ricky.
"Skyway Avenue" by: We The Kings