FlyPeople bust moves of their own in show

Gulfem Demiray Guest WriterJuliana Kiyan Staff Writer

Can you fleel the flove? FlyPeople, Vassar’s student-run dance group, will show some of this year’s dances for the first time with their Works-In-Progress show on Nov. 30 in Kenyon Hall.

The 31-member group draws from a broad range of styles, including modern, jazz, hip-hop, ballet and tap. This year, the dancers will perform a Backstreet Boys medley, a hip-hop medley and a dance to “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” from Disney’s Mulan. The grand group piece is set to The Go! Team’s “Huddle Formation,” which co-administrative director Arielle Danziger ’10 calls “organized chaos.”

Seniors Heather McGuinness and Sascha Manov are co-choreographing one of the show’s 12 dances, a hip-hop medley set to Missy Elliot’s “On and On” and Joe Budden’s “Fire.”

The two previously worked together on a hip-hop piece performed at last year’s Works In Progress show, before they both went abroad for the spring semester. Over the summer, they began brainstorming another crowd-pleasing dance.

“We’re good friends, and we have a similar idea of what makes a fun hip-hop piece,” said McGuinness.

Manov has an extensive background in dance. From the age of three, Manov trained in ballet and jazz, then started doing hip-hop in middle school. She still enjoys “fun, crowd-pleasing hip-hop,” while continuing with the classical disciplines.

Her fourth year in FlyPeople, McGuinness is a seasoned choreographer. Before coming to Vassar, she was a competitive gymnast for several years and performed with her high school dance team.

When McGuinness and Manov returned to campus in August, they selected the music (that has a “good beat,” according to McGuinness) and began working. And because they are housemates, they could work on choreography in their living room.

At the end of September, the artistic director of FlyPeople, Kathleen Matysik ’08, held a choreographers’ workshop during which all of the choreographers demonstrated 30-second to minute-long previews of their dances. The workshop helps Matysik ensure that the show is diverse in terms of style and music.

FlyPeople then held auditions for each dance; some only take a few dancers, while others invite all who audition to participate in the dance. Manov said she looked for dancers with “good style,” and they decided to set the piece with 10 dancers. Over the next couple of months, they added to the dance with each rehearsal. The two expressed different methods of choreographing: Manov works on her own time, while McGuinness says she likes working with someone else to bounce ideas off of.

One of the biggest challenges has been physically conveying to the dancers what they envisioned. “What looks great in your mind can look ridiculous on the dancers, and that’s when we need to change it,” said McGuiness. Manov agreed. “It’s hard when you try moves on a group, and it doesn’t work out like you imagined,” she said, but added that they were flexible and were supportive of the dancers’ ideas.

Another challenge was being confident in their choreography as they presented it to the group, said McGuinness.

As the semester has come to a close, both feel that the dance has come together quite well. Their dancers are entering a stage of rehearsal where they no longer have to concentrate on the technique and intricate moves and can have fun with the choreography is “really satisfying,” said McGuinness. Manov added, “It’s encouraging for me as a choreographer when the dancers get into it.”

Because all the dances in Friday’s show are works in progress, Manov and McGuinness will add a third section and possibly more dancers next semester. Manov even mentioned choreographing a new dance, in addition to the hip-hop medley, within the next few months. The final show will take place in April. McGuinness encouraged the Vassar community to come out and support FlyPeople. “The caliber of dancers increases every year, it’s a really diverse show,” she said.