Andrew Ribner/Food Editor

Terpsichore, a student-run dance show, is held once every semester and is designed to include as many dancers and choreographers as possible, regardless of previous experience. The dances range from easy and fun to complex and advanced, which creates a dynamic that accommodates students with all levels of dancing ability. This year’s Fall Dance Concert included eleven remarkable dances in a variety of styles and moods that audiences at all three showings seemed to enjoy.

As someone who absolutely loves to dance but has limited talent, I was a part of the so-called “easy dance,” which I like to refer to as WesTwerk. Choreographed by Zak Malik ’14 and Tal Levran ’15, our dance was scandalous, to say the very least. We had approximately a month to perfect our twerking and grind train (throwback to the Bar Mitzvah days), but we knew only about half of the dance less than a week before the show. It’s a miracle that we managed to not only put it all together before the show but also absolutely kill it in all of our performances.

Andrew Ribner/Food Editor

We spent most of the rehearsal process in the Nics lounge, scandalizing unsuspecting passersby, including parents and even grandparents during Homecoming/Family Weekend. We invited many people to join WesTwerk, but, unfortunately, there was little enthusiasm. Whenever we were taught a new part of the dance, we could barely believe that it was even more shameless and explicit than the last part, all the while loving it. After grinding on each other to “Candy Shop” and “My Neck, My Back” we learned not to take ourselves seriously at all and to quickly get comfortable with one another. My mother was heartbroken when I refused to let her come to the show, but I think that was probably a good call.

The performances themselves were surreal experiences for me, fraught with butterflies and excitement. After the first show, I was so hyped for the following shows that I lost my voice screaming, “Let’s fucking go!” over and over backstage. Every show was lively and exciting, but my favorite was by far the Saturday show at 10 p.m., during which the audience was comprised mostly of my friends. The incessant cheering from the crowd gave me a rush unlike anything else, and I know we totally rocked the audience that night.

Since then, so many people have come up to me gushing about how much they loved the entire show and our dance in particular. Many of my friends have even said that watching the show inspired them to get involved next year. (They’ve also mentioned that they had no idea I was such a twerking machine. Stop making me blush, guys.)

Andrew Ribner/Food Editor

I hadn’t been a part of any kind of organized dance since the age of four, but I’ll definitely be coming back to Terp. It’s strange to feel so proud of this crazy twerkfest, but the reception that we got was incredible. I ended up in the Terpsichore fall show on a whim but couldn’t be happier to have been a part of an ensemble that ranged from fun and ridiculous to athletic and artistic.