Hip Hop Showcase
Performances ranging from a breakdance battle inspired by a video game and fierce choreography to Beyoncé’s song “Formation” entertained students at the annual Hip Hop Showcase. The show featured dance clubs such as In Motion, Beat of Asia (BoA) and ITXC as well as independent student solos and duets.
The night opened with lower William O’Handley, a rapper with the stage name “Billy from Cilley.” He performed his originally written songs “I’m the Best” and “Exaggeration.” Although he forgot a few of his lines during the second song, he felt like the audience was supportive and cheerful. “I forgot my lines at one point, but the crowd helped me move past it,” O’Handley said.
Lower Jaynee Anaya and prep Aaron Willard followed O’Handley with a hip hop routine choreographed by William “WildaBeast” Adams. After watching the video, Anaya and Willard decided to learn the routine two weeks before the showcase.
Anaya explained that choosing to take on this endeavor was not difficult because she loved how “empowering and fierce” Beyoncé and her song was. “It was spontaneous, but [Willard] and I were ambitious about this commitment because we both love dancing and performing,” she said. The two practiced at six in the morning which was the only time they could meet together.
Lower Elianne Lee commended Anaya and Willard’s performance and energy. She knew the performance would be well-received because of how audiences reacted to Anaya’s past performances throughout the year. “It really set the standards for the rest of the show and [Anaya] was absolutely amazing,” Lee said.
“The friendships are really worth it considering we all see each other multiple times a week for hours on end.”
Anaya enjoyed the opportunity to share her style and combine it with the original choreography. From this experience, Anaya and Willard taught other friends and recognized their “love of teaching and implementing [their] own elements of dance into [the] performance.” Next year, the two plan to start Exeter’s first co-ed, audition-based hip hop dance team. “We wanted to get our names out there and show everyone we have the potential to be great co-heads and have good qualities for such a dance club,” Anaya said.
To the crowd’s delight, seniors Kevin Zhen and Pranay Vemulamada ran up on stage and performed the same routine. After their performance, Vemulamada promposed to senior Lucy Weiler. The entire audience cheered and gave Vemulamada and Weiler a standing ovation.
BoA performed to a combination of three Korean Pop songs and one Japanese Pop song. Upper Jada Huang said that although the group’s performance was “a little messier” than she would have liked, it was still a strong performance. “The audience seemed to be really enjoying themselves which was great to see and hear, as a performer. At one point, the crowd was cheering so loudly we couldn’t even hear our music, which was both good and bad,” she said.
Throughout the year, BoA became a well-known group after performing a total of seven times at locations such as pep rallies and weekend events. In order to rehearse for routines, members of BoA practiced regularly two times a week in addition to the extra sessions required as performance time grew near. However, lower Mary Le said that being with her friends makes the extensive rehearsal enjoyable. “The friendships are really worth it considering we all see each other multiple times a week for hours on end,” she said.
ITXC, Exeter’s breakdancing club, modeled their performance after the popular video game Super Smash Bros. The pre-made video selected a “player” from either the red or blue team. Each battle focused on a different aspect of breakdancing such as footwork or freestyling.
The final battle was between Zhen and senior Jason Won. Both seniors and co-heads have performed with ITXC throughout their time at Exeter and produced a final performance that many found original and exciting.
Won believed that overall, the group and audience came with a lot of energy. “Although the weeks and days leading up to the performance were filled with lots of worrying about the final details, the performance itself more than made up for those,” he said. After being a part of ITXC for all of his four years here, Won said that he will miss practicing with his fellow dancers. “The club has provided for me a safe haven from the chaos and stress of daily life at Exeter, and leaving the tight-knit community that has grown from my time there is going to be bittersweet, to say the least,” he said.
Senior and In Motion co-head Stephanie Pan shared Won’s sentiments regarding this final performance at Exeter. Pan said that when looking back on her time in the dance community at Exeter, she knows that she will miss the closeness and support of all of the dancers. “They are my family in many ways—they’ve supported me and helped me grow and taught me things about myself I never expected to learn, and I hope to find myself so loved and nurtured somewhere else in the future,” she said.