justArts spoke with Samantha Daniels-Kolin ’15, a co-president of the Adagio Dance Company, about the group’s show Passion in Motion. 

JA: How do you think the show went this year? 

SK: I think the show went really, really well, definitely considering the fact that we had a lot less dancers show up this semester than in previous years. And we had a lot more dances. So people definitely put in more effort and were willing to get involved in more than two dances, which was really great and really appreciated. Four person dances are not as fun as eight person dances. It went very well.

JA: Did you have any challenges with the production this year?

SK: You name it. Levin [Ballroom] was double booked [between Adagio and another group] on Friday, which [meant] we had to take down and reset the set—the whole stage—between Thursday and Saturday. When we got there on Saturday to set everything up, the facilities and conference and events [staff] had not been there to set anything up. It [was] a little bit of a freak out moment in trying to get drapes set up, putting the decorations up again… When it’s 7 [p.m.] and we’re opening [the house] at 7:30 and everything is not set, it gets interesting. Working with [Student Production Services] this year was actually more challenging than other years. For example, in the last dance—which was the [executive board] dance—last night, the music stopped halfway through. We kept dancing to no music and just finished the choreography anyway. It actually looked very good, but it’s definitely a little bit disheartening to the dancers and to the choreographer if the music just stops. You’re not really sure what to do. … Both of our stage managers ended up not being able to show up last-minute on both shows. … It was kind of on the spot, use a dancer that’s not in half of the show, [then] swap around—things like that. There [were] definitely a lot of issues because the show [was] right after the break, [so] people forgot choreography, forgot to come, didn’t practice. It was a lot of extra rehearsals [in the three days] right before the show.

JA: What was your favorite part of the show this year?

SK: This year I was in seven dances, which is the most I’ve ever been in, so that was very fun [and] very challenging. I choreographed again, which is always a challenge, to try and do something that you think is audience-worthy and worthy of your dancers who are putting in the effort to participate in it as well.

JA: Did you do anything differently this year as opposed to in other years?

SK: We have a website, which I don’t think gets a lot of traffic. We started publicizing a lot more and a lot heavier. We asked our dancers to get more involved and to try and attract more students at every club fair. [We’re] definitely trying to get the Dance Ensemble [a smaller, more advanced group within Adagio] to perform at other Brandeis events and not just our own show. We’re trying to get our name out there.

JA: What would your goals be for next year’s performance?

SK: Hopefully we’ll get a lot more people interested and [find people] who will stick through with it. I think the E-Board will have a lot of challenges, because the majority of the E-Board is going to be new. The majority of us on the board are graduating, so it’s unfortunate for us because we don’t really want to leave. But I think the new E-Board will do really, really well. It’s just going to be interesting for them to try to get a grasp of how things work and working with the bureaucratic methods that exist on this campus can be a struggle sometimes. So I think that that’ll be a challenge for them. And I think it will be a challenge to just keep recruiting people because a lot of the people who were very involved graduated in the last year or two or three. So bringing a new crop of students up will be a challenge for them. 

JA: What do you see as the mission of Adagio? 

SK: I think our mission is just to promote dance as a fun activity that people want to do. As I say, it’s all-inclusive. You don’t have to be trained to dance. You don’t have to have been dancing since you were three to either know how to dance or want to dance or be allowed to dance on a stage. So definitely all the clubs—even the clubs like Ballet Club, Hooked on Tap, they all want to take you in, even if you have never done it in your entire life. They’re happy to teach you, happy to show you and they’re happy to let you perform even if you’re not the most advanced… so those are really great options for people on campus.