Studio Dance members will showcase their dance skills to friends and family at their spring showcase on Saturday. Credit: Rosel Burt | Lantern Reporter
The student organization Studio Dance will hold its annual spring performance, titled “Radiance” for 2024, on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Ohio Union’s Performance Hall.
The club hosts showcases at the end of every fall and spring semester, and this event marks the group’s 11th end-of-year performance since launching in 2018, club president Melina Koch, a fourth-year in logistics management, said. As a student-run club, Studio Dance’s choreography is exclusively created, taught and performed by its members, Koch said; additionally, all components of the showcase are managed by Studio Dance executive board members, including costuming and stage management.
Madison Ramsey, a fourth-year in middle childhood education and Studio Dance member, said she and several other club participants feel its numerous performance opportunities, which widely range in style, are what sets Studio Dance apart from other dance-focused organizations at Ohio State.
“I grew up doing dance, and one of my favorite parts is performing, so looking at all of the student organizations at OSU, I really liked that this involved having a showcase or performance at the end,” Ramsey said. “So that’s what drew me to this club originally.”
Like Ramsey, most Studio Dance members also grew up dancing, so they wanted to find on-campus opportunities that were structured like the classes they were familiar with upon arriving at Ohio State, Ramsey said. She said the weekly rehearsals and biannual performances mean the club operates in a similar manner to traditional dance studios.
Koch agreed.
Members of Ohio State’s Studio Dance club practice leaps for their upcoming spring showcase on Saturday. Credit: Rosel Burt | Lantern Reporter
“Performance opportunities decrease significantly when you graduate high school since a lot of people have to leave their studios to further their education,” Koch said. “With our performances, we can demonstrate that our passion for dance has not diminished but actually increased.”
One of the club’s distinct features that enables its members to further their hands-on dance education is the option to choreograph a featured dance for the group’s showcase(s), Suzy Kress, a second-year in nursing and Studio Dance member, said. For each style — jazz, lyrical, ballet, tap and hip hop — all dancers are placed into three levels based on experience, and each of the resulting 15 classes requires at least one student teacher to choreograph a routine, Kress said.
Including the designated senior dance, Koch said “Radiance” will feature 16 performances in total.
Vanessa Moats, a second-year in microbiology and member of Studio Dance’s social and outreach committee, said despite the nerves that came with taking on a teaching role, the club’s warm atmosphere made the process rewarding.
“I was a little worried at first because I had never taught before, and I was worried about balancing that, but it ended up being really nice,” Moats said. “Everybody is so nice and accepting and inclusive, if any of us are struggling we’re all there to help.”
Ally King, a fourth-year in landscape architecture and one of Studio Dance’s performance team managers, said the club has been holding weekly rehearsals for each spring showcase performance since the semester began, except for the seniors-only number, which has a separate rehearsal process. Because many members, including the choreographers themselves, are involved in multiple routines, King said this process can become a large time commitment.
”Sometimes we do have to get down to business, and we have to do extra rehearsals to make sure everything comes together in the way we want it to and that we’re confident in,” King said. “Sometimes it’s hard to pull everyone together and be the boss.”
Anyone interested in the show is welcome to attend, and admission is free. In addition to the 16 dances performed by Studio Dance, there will be three guest performances by the university’s 3D Dance Team and DanceSport at OSU clubs, Koch said.
More information about Studio Dance can be found on the group’s Instagram page.
