The Adagio Dance Company hosted their semester show Wednesday, a performance that exemplified the energy dance can bring into the room.

With a theme based on memes, the show demonstrated the sense of community and openness Adagio hopes to create within their club and throughout their performances. Each dance captured a certain message, belief, or concept the creators wanted to explore in the space Adagio afforded them. This spirit created a enticing show, binding many different inspirations into a performance united by the spirit of dance.

Emcees Yael Matlow ’18 and Julia Green ’18 kept the show on track and the audience engaged throughout, introducing each act with voices similar to hosts on pop radio shows around the world.

The first piece, “Escalate,” was choreographed by Julie Joseph ’18 and performed by the Adagio Dance Ensemble, an audition-based group within Adagio. A piece based on a theoretical post-apocalyptic world that left only women as “bada$$ robot-esque creatures,” “Escalate” used flowing movements and ferocious poses to deliver a performance which captured the spirit of post-apocalyptic defiance.

The show then moved into “Mambo No. 5,” a jazzy piece with gold, glittery dresses (perhaps the best costumes in the show), which was choreographed by Lindsay Weiner ’18. “Fighter,” choreographed by Emily Glovin ‘19 and Hannah Suib ‘19, followed and brought excitement to the stage, not only with the song’s empowering message, but with the dancers’ assertive and confident stage presences and pseudo-pantomimes of fights.

This was followed by “L.O.V.E.,” choreographed by Lizzie Grossman ‘18, brought a disco vibe to the stage, building on the background music of Ashlee Simpson, constructing a fun and upbeat piece.

Rachel Lese’s ’21 “River” came next and delivered a stand-out message. The opening of the dance featured a solo from Genevive Bondaryk ‘21, whose delivery was technically complex and impressive. The dance itself incorporated well-executed ballet inspired moves, revealing the message of the song that we all have our own story to tell about mistakes we have made.

The piece “Chains,” choreographed by Haley Director ’20, took on Nick Jonas’ song with an electrified, sassy stage presence and choreography that was technically dramatic, not allowing a dull moment on stage.

The following dance, “Dive,” choreographed by Meghana Reddy ’21, chronicled relationships as they grew and fell apart, contrasting waltz-like moves and solo dramatic flutterings to show the joy and pain of relationships.

“Game of Survival”, an excellently theatrical dance, proceeded in the program, featuring the choreography of Sarah Lavin ‘21, which combined movements reminiscent of violent rituals and combat to transform the stage into a dramatic battlefield. The performers did an amazing job bringing this concept to life.

“Total Entertainment,” choreographed by Lissa Sangree-Calabrese ‘21, curated the idea of relationships like “Dive,” but went for concepts of love over specific couples. Throughout the piece, dancers expressed difficulties relating to each other deeply. The end of the dance featured Sangree-Calabrese stumbling and falling to the ground, creating a dramatic effect to conclude the dance.

The penultimate piece was “An Adagio Retrospective,” with choreography chosen and put together by Brooke Granovsky ’18, including some from as far back as 1997. Set to Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothin’,” the dance was a wonderful mash-up of some of Adagio’s most impressive dances.

The show ended with Dance Ensemble’s rendition of “Havana,” choreographed by Rebecca Kahn ’19, where the dancers pulled off the impressive move of dancing in high heels.

The Adagio semester show was as a great way for members of the Brandeis dance community to express themselves and their visions through dance. The dancers performed a show that was both entertaining and lively, allowing the audience to take a break from studying for finals.

Editor’s Note: Editor-in-Chief Hannah Schuster is a member of the Adagio Dance Company.