Roaring laughter exploded last Thursday from Levin Ballroom as the hypnotist Dale K. entertained packed crowd at "Caution: Hypnosis Zone." Dale employed clever scenarios with his hypnotized volunteers and encouraged crowd participation to make his show enjoyable for all in the audience. From having volunteers pretend they were cows, to having two burly boys pretend they were giving birth, the level of hilarity doubled with each new set-up Dale introduced. The hypnotist's show proved to be one of the highlights of the orientation week. Dale took the stage and gave some background on hypnotism, explaining how the process combines his suggestions with the personality and unconscious mind of the participant. Dale then walked through the aisles of the audience and selected 20 participants to come on stage. After asking the audience for total silence, he began the hypnosis by having the volunteers slowly count down from five while taking deep breaths. Dale then had the participants spit out any gum they where chewing, which he placed on the sound speakers, much to the chagrin of many Student Events staff members in the ballroom.

Dale then administered the first test to see how the hypnotic process was affecting the volunteers, telling them there was a balloon attached to their right arm, while a bag of sand weighed down their left. The audience chuckled as the volunteers' right arms shot up in the air while their left sides drooped to the floor. As Dale led them through further relaxation techniques, one participant, Miriam Sievers '06, even fell out of her chair and began to nap on the floor.

Next, Dale told the volunteers they were going on a hot air balloon, and proceeded to pass out imaginary tranquilizers to participants who became terrified at the thought of extreme heights. Some participants began taking off their clothes when Dale told the volunteers the temperature in the hot air balloon was rising. All the participants then huddled together when Dale announced the weather was now frigid. The audience was hysterical as guys unknowingly buried their head in bosoms of neighboring girls, and as two macho guys cuddled together tightly to "fight the cold." Dale then told the volunteers they were flying over a nudist colony playing volleyball, and later caused the participants to comically squirm when he added that the players were members of the participants' families.

Besides making the crowd laugh, Dale was excellent at executing hypnotic exercises that involved the audience as well. Dale instructed Seivers that whenever she heard a cell phone ring, she would angrily march into the audience. She would then grab a shoe off an audience member thinking it was the phone, and argue with a man on the "other line" who wanted to sell her a vacuum. The audience laughed harder each time as Miriam got angrier answering the "ringing" shoe.

Another highlight of the show occurred when an eager male volunteer from the audience received a full-on lap dance from three hypnotized male participants who thought they were Australian exotic dancers.

Dale also played some word games with the hypnotized volunteers, telling them that whenever they heard the word "diarrhea" they would smell a horrible odor that was being emitted from someone on stage. He also told the participants that when he said the word "X-ray," the volunteers would think he was naked in his full, "erect" glory. Both scenarios resulted in the volunteers scurrying across the stage in a scene of hilarious horror that elicited roaring laughter from the audience.

Some of the most comical moments in the show came from scenarios using a stuffed Barney doll. Firs, hilarity resulted when Dale told the volunteers that whenever they heard the words "shut up," they would think it was said by Barney, the purple dinosaur. Later, Dale told the participants that whenever they heard the Barney theme song, they would instantly fall in love with the purple dinosaur doll. These instructions led to massive fight over the purple dinosaur that Dale had to instruct the volunteers to remain seated in line while Barney was passed around. The crowd was in fits of laughter as all the girls tightly clung to Barney, and all the guys gently stroked the plush doll. The best moment came when one male participant became so enamored that he started to make out with the doll. His response when Dale brought him to his senses: "I'm transferring."

However the highlight of the show was the "Porno Man" sketch, where a participant named Jeff was made to believe he had super-humping powers that were needed to save the day. Whenever Jeff heard the superhero music, he put on his cape and mask. Being told each time there was a fire, he first humped the stage floor and then Dale's leg at lightening speed. Later, Jeff ran into the crowd to hump out a fire that he was told was in one male's lap.

The hypnotist show incorporated a mix of silly games and innocent dirty pranks to make the performance a treat for first-years and upperclassmen alike. Dale's skill at relaxing his volunteers and guiding them through the scenarios erased any doubts in the audience that the hypnosis was a fake act. The hypnotist show is one of the great events of orientation week that students of all classes can enjoy.