[nat sound of people cheering at Refresh spring show]
Cheers were loud and energies high at the eighth annual Refresh spring dance show. Hundreds of Northwestern students crowded into Ryan Auditorium at Tech to watch one of three weekend performances — 9 PM on Friday, 7 PM or 10 PM on Saturday.
As the audience waited in anticipation for each show to start, the excitement was palpable.
[Yena Son] Hello. Hello you state your first and last name, please? Yes. My first name is Jana and my last name is Son. And can you tell me where we are right now? We’re at Ryan Auditorium here at Tech at the 10 p.m. Refresh show.
First refresh show it’s not it’s my second. I came to the professional last year as well. And what are your thoughts in general literally amazing. The energy is always amazing here, especially on the last one and I’m here to support my friends who are your friends? My friends are Haley Chung and Fiona. Woo
Son wasn’t the only one there to show support for some friendly faces. Seniors Kylie Kim and Jenna Kim, along with nine other friends, arrived at the show with some very special, coordinated outfits.
[Jenna Kim] Our friend Michelle you she’s in refresh and we want to come support her. So we printed out shirts where we spell out her name Michelle you with an exclamation mark and we use transfer paper to iron on images onto the back of the shirts.
this is pirate Michelle unlocked. sunglasses, Michelle.
They initially planned to only spell out the first eight letters of Yu’s name. However, as more and more people joined the crew, the plan had to expand. The friends formed a group chat with everyone involved, set a date to decorate shirts, and were first in line to get good seats. All of which came out of pure joy.
[Kim] She actually joined refresh recently. Yes as a senior and so that’s not necessarily something that you know, a lot of these people have been in the orc for their entire time in Northwestern. So we really love that. She’s pursuing her passion and her interests senior year even so we love that we’re showing up for her. I think that’s kind of what’s been inspirational for us. We love Michelle. So it was a no-brainer for us to want to put in this Chronicle effort for her.
This year’s show, “Fates Align”, had a theme of destiny, which left a sense of mystery and anticipation.
[Son] Yeah, I honestly don’t know what to fully expect which is why I’m even more excited but they’re gonna eat ya. They’re gonna eat as always.
In line with the mystical theme, the show incorporated pastel lighting and concept videos that featured flowy dresses, red strings of fate, and magic eight balls.
The show itself was split into five sets,
[nat sound of the show]
There were also performances by outside Northwestern student dance groups. The guest performers across the three weekend shows were ODB, Dale Duro, and K Dance.
[nat sound of K Dance]
The night ended with a closing performance and a senior piece — which was inspired by High School Musical.
[nat sound of Go Wildcats]
As the last big Refresh event for the class of 2024, the 10 PM show on Saturday was particularly emotional. Before final bows, the students played a video homage to their graduating seniors.
[nat sound of senior video playing]
Amy Cho, a Weinberg junior and Refresh’s incoming Artistic Director, broke down all the planning and practice that went into the big event.
[Amy Cho] I’ve never had a handle that many like we’re just took old things before and just like the amount of like people we needed to contact was like insane. I was like, I didn’t know that the show required this much like effort. Um, so I think like prepping for it was pretty stressful and yeah Tech week is usually just a lot of rehearsal like it’s a lot of rehearsal for everyone. Everyone gets tired. Everyone gets dressed. Everyone like is like done by the end of the day.
Tech week rehearsals could run from 5 PM to 12 AM most nights. According to Cho, she would estimate that she put around 50 hours into planning the show the week before. But at the end of the day, it was all worth it.
[Cho] So on Thursday of tech week, like right before the day of the show, there was actually like after we ended our last like run in tech there was like a moment whenever I’m just like started bawling like everyone’s crying and I think like that was the moment that made me realize I’m like, oh wow, like this was all like worth it in the end and like no matter how we do tomorrow like it’s gonna be amazing.
And now, with the biggest Refresh event of the year over, Cho and others on the team express feeling a mix of relief and sadness. According to freshman Elaine Cui, it’s an emotion deemed “post show depression”.
[Elaine Cui] seniors talk about post short post-show depression because everyone’s so tired and all of the seniors are leaving. So it’s actually really sad doing our last show, but I feel very very happy that it went well and like I am really tired and I’m really excited for next year now.
[Cho] I think yeah after it ended a lot of emotions mostly just like crying because like, I don’t know like it’s just like all that has come to an end and it’s like there’s a certain relief that comes with that but there’s also so much like
Like oh my God, I missed it already. Like I just want to relive it. Like I was like telling like all my friends were saying that like after the show like we all hung out for like after the show and then we’re all saying like how much we just want to go back and do it again.
However, Refresh isn’t done yet! And there’s still so much to look forward to. As Cho shared,
[Cho] I think we all just share this like mutual love for dance and like
Yes, we all come from different backgrounds. And we all have differently really relationships with Dan’s itself. But like I think the fact that this space exists so that we can like, you know grow in our own ways, but also like growth together.
And I think I got really reminded of that this show and it was just like really wholesome like I was telling my friends earlier too, but I’m like, I feel like I can’t remember the last time refresh like was this whole song to me like, you know, like people were like bawling and like it was just like it was such a good energy, right? And so I just hope that energy like carries forth and I’m next year.
For WNUR News, I’m Michelle Hwang.
[fade into nat sound of Refresh show performances, then fade out]
