Correction appended.

Every performance of the Adagio Dance Company’s Passion in Motion began with a pitch-black room coming alive with dazzling bright lights. Adagio’s end-of-semester show consisted of student choreographed pieces from several dance genres. The show featured dances not only from Adagio, but also from Hooked on Tap and the Brandeis Ballet Club.

Adagio, a completely student-run dance group, encourages students of all dance backgrounds to perform. There are no auditions for their shows, only placements, and whoever wants to perform is given the opportunity. Other than dances that use placements, there is a group within Adagio called Dance Ensemble that is an audition based intensive dance group.

Passion in Motion was entertaining not only for its dance performances but also for its full show atmosphere. The black and gold decorations at the entrance of Levin Ballroom made the show experience all the more pleasurable by unexpectedly adding to the overall show environment.

Before the show even started, the emcees David Getz ’15 and Michael Frederikse ’15 made sure that the audience was in high spirits. The emcees created an interactive experience between the crowd and the performers with jokes and laughs. There was never a dull moment in the show with Getz and Frederikse keeping the crowd smiling in between each piece.

The lighting helped tell a story in many of the dances. One performance which was enriched by lighting was “When I Come Back,” choreographed by Samantha Daniels-Kolin ’15 and Brittany Ritell ’15. This performance was about two seniors struggling with the notions of being forgotten after they leave Brandeis. Soft lights during slower parts of the song and strobe lights when the song grew especially fast-paced also enriched the story. These lighting effects brought out to the audience the emotional aspect that these two seniors were addressing.

Another characteristic of the Adagio show that added to the experience were the costume choices. In performances such as “Pompeii,” choreographed by Meredith van der Walde '15 and Alyssa Katzoff '15, and the Dance Ensemble’s “Queen Bee,” choreographed by Lori Shapiro ‘17, the costumes truly added to the dance. “Pompeii” featured all-black outfits with red hairbands, which are appropriate with the theme of the song. “Queen Bee” took a similar approach with all-black costumes and yellow hair bands. These costumes choices showed the level of consideration taken with each performance.

Every dance in the show utilized movement across the entire stage. This was demonstrated through all types of circular, triangular, square and many other formations. The various formations featured benefitted many of the performances by having different dancers in the front positions at different times. “Don’t Wanna Dance,” choreographed by Agnes Baldenweck ’15, used a triangular formation of the dancers. This added a dimension to the dance that really made the piece more complex. This aspect of the performances made it so that there was not one clear soloist; every dance was a group dance, in which the dancers worked together.

However, some performances did have special performers in them to make each performance stand out in their own ways. These special performances included dancers going into the audience, acrobatics, and much more that added more dimension to give the Adagio show more excitement.

A fascinating quality of the Adagio show was how the choreographers were able to group all dancers in a piece to do such acrobatic skills such as splits, pike folds and backward rolls. These made the Adagio show truly sensational and dynamic to watch from dance to dance.

The Brandeis Ballet Club did an excellent job with their piece, choreographed by Hannah Schuster ’18, Vanessa Alamo ’17 and Abby Skolnik ’17. This piece was different from the others in that the white backdrop of the stage was taken full advantage of. In most other pieces, the backdrop was not noticeable, but the Ballet Club used the white backdrop to add another dimension to their piece. This backdrop reflected the entrancing turns and poses of these ballerinas. Another aspect of this piece that was unique was the non-vocal song “A Flat” by Black Violin because the nature of the song caused the audience to fully concentrate on the ballerinas dance rather than on the lyrics of the song.

Adagio Dance Company did an excellent job of using every utility they had at their disposal to create a full show environment. This made the varied dance pieces all the more pleasurable to watch.

—Brooke Granovsky, who choreographed and appeared in “Octahate,” and appeared in “When I come Back,” “Wasted Love” and “Worksong,” is an Arts Editor for the Justice

An earlier version of this article misstated that Joyce Situ '17 choreographed "Pompeii." "Pompeii" was choreographed by Meredith van der Walde '15 and Alyssa Katzoff '15.