This weekend, BoomShaka will be performing their last show of the year. While smaller than ReFusionShaka, the combined dance show in Cahn auditorium, it will still be a lot of fun to watch. The show takes place in Shanley Pavilion, a smaller building behind Lunt Hall. Members of BoomShaka will transform the space into a small dance studio, rolling out portable marley and moving their plastic drums in.
[Nat Sound: Boom drumming]
Angel Jordan is a senior and one of the dancers in BoomShaka. She talked about what it was like to choreograph while abroad.
ANGEL JORDAN: This year, though, was a little bit challenging just because I was abroad, so that’s kind of the only reason this piece worked out is I was abroad but the other choreographer was here on campus so the choreo that you see is sort of her choreo plus my choreo but it translated onto her body then translated onto our dancers so it kind of became this funky mix. It’s like not really either of our styles, but this weird blend of both, which was really exciting to kind of witness it come to life.
This year, the show was structured a bit differently than in previous years. James Hisanaga, a senior dancer, spoke on this decision.
JAMES HISANAGA: Well, I’m one of the co-PR chairs with Yasmeen, and we like fought for the theme to be picked first cause it makes PR easier and then also like when we pitched pieces, then you could pick a song that’s that fits in the theme, but it’s not it’s not like strict either like you could pitch something out of the theme, but it, I think it made for a more cohesive show.
BoomShaka is unique in that it has both drummers and dancers on stage. This can make choreography more challenging.
JORDAN: I also think my working with theater has and with people with a variety of levels has really helped me to be able to create choreography that drummers can do with us because a lot of times they don’t have the same dance training that we have. So if you want to create something where drummers and dancers are dancing at the same time, you want everyone to look good and no one to look stupid.
Angella Ma is one of the freshman drummers who will be dancing in the Spring show.
ANGELLA MA: I have bits and pieces of dancing and some of the pieces, there’s like a section where the drummers join the dancers and we do like a group thing. And there’s also like a transition piece called Drummer’s Dancing that is like just like a funny silly opportunity for us to like show off our our dance skills and we have a varying degrees of dance skills, so it’s really fun.
At the end of this year, BoomShaka will be losing around 9 Senior members of the group, cutting the group total almost in half.
HISANAGA: Like bittersweet cause like when you join, you know you’re going to graduate eventually, but it’s like. You know, you don’t really think about it till it happens.
JORDAN: So I think, I think it’s slowly starting to settle in for each of us and we’re still kind of laughing about it like oh this is the last this, this is the last this but I think. Getting closer to those final show moments and then to that senior formal moment is going to really just nail it in and we’re going to be like, oh my God, we’re done.
And what should you be excited to see this weekend?
Ma: Wow, I really love all the full cast pieces where everybody is there. It’s a bit of a squeeze because it’s Shanley and it’s small, but there’s a lot of cool stuff being done like both like technically like rhythm and dance and choreo wise, but also just like visuals.
Jordan: We have a tap number this year that I am so excited to watch. I’m not in it thankfully, I’m not that skilled to be able to do what they’re doing, but they really upped it this year, so there’s one point where like they’re like tapping and drumming at the same time, which is insane. I’ve never seen that.
Boomshaka’s shows will be at 7 and 10pm on Friday, April 25th and Saturday, April 26th in Shanley Pavilion. Tickets can be purchased through the Norris Ticketing Platform.
For WNUR News, I’m Ash Aranha.
