by Laurie Willis
Staff Writer
Only a few weeks before the April 19
spring recital, and everyone in the Opeyo
dance group is excited.
The 13 members of the group - a
subdivision of the Black Student Move
ment - perform jazz, modem and ballet
dances. As they practice hard today, they
all have the same goal in mind — make the
recital the best it can be.
The 11 women move with grace and
agility — the bodies flow with music. The
men move equally well; it all seems so
natural.
This practice in the South Campus
Lounge closely resembles most others.
The members dance, dance and dance
some more. Practice makes perfect, and
practice they do.
Other than giving constructive
criticism about the dances, few people
talk.
As some members get a routine
down, others applaud. Someone says
“good move” from the side, and so
meone else looks across the room and
says “that’s better, but keep trying.” The
dancers obviously care about each other
and perfecting the dance.
In the middle of the floor. Director
James Dempson helps four women learn
a dance he choreographed.
The women watch Dempson closely.
To the side, several dancers practice
various movements while others sit and
watch awaiting their turn.
Dempson choreographed this par
ticular dance; he carries them through the
dance until he feels they all know it well.
The senior political science major.
and Arnold Alston, a senior biology ma
jor, are the only men in the group. They
practice in black Danskin tights and gray
sweat shirts.
Most of the women wear leotards of
various colors, tights and leg warmers.
Some dancers practice in tennis shoes,
shoes or bare feet.
For some of the dancers, it is their
first time dancing in a group. “Because I
had no previous dancing experience, I
didn’t really know what to expect, but I
love it,” said Dempson who has been
with the group for three years.
Men tend to feel that the group shows
no masculinity, Dempson and Alston
said.
The men have no problems getting
around stereotype and enjoy the group a
lot, they said.
“The dancing is a way to express
myself,” said Alston, who has been with
the group for two years. “I love to see the
body in motion...To me that’s art.”
Dempson said he looked forward to
the Tuesday and Thursday practices
because the group was special to him.
“Being an Opeyo dancer is like being
part of a second family,” he said.
Other members share his feelings.
Olga Simmons, senior, said although this
was her first year with the group, she
really considered it a special part of her
life.
“The thing I like most about the
group is the togetherness we have,” she
said. “We’re not just a group of dancers
per se.. .We’ve gotten to know each other
well, like a family.”
Simmons said her only regret was
that she was not a member of the group
her sophmore and junior years.
“I had seen them perform a while
back, and I enjoyed what they were do
ing,” she said. “It looked like a lot of
work, but I wanted to try it.”
She said the members of the group
really cared about each other, and that’s
important. “If you simply dance with
people but don’t get to know them, it
doesn’t have the same positive effect.”
She said what one Opeyo dancer does
effects all Opeyos. “What we do in
dividually reflects on the whole group,”
she said. “We all want to look good so
we help each other out.”
Dancers have to feel what they’re do
ing, Simmons said. She said to truly ex
press something to an audience, the
dancers themselves must feel it.
by Kevin Washington
Assistant Editor
What has a yellow human taxicab, a
dazzling tap routine and Freda Payne
singing hot Duke Ellington jazz?
Well, if you couldn’t answer, you
probably didn’t buy a ticket and catch the
Tony Award winning Broadway-on-Tour
musical Sophiscated Ladies at Memorial
Hall on March 15 and 16.
Headlining the Broadway-on-Tour
version of the show is Freda Payne,
known more for the R&B/Pop cuts than
jazz. But Payne’s performance is ex
cellent; she pours her immense talent into
the Duke’s songs making a few of them
her own. She gives the show the ‘Umph’
factor talent into the Duke’s songs mak
ing a few of them her own. She gives the
show the ‘Umph’ factor which someone
with her reputation should bring.
Payne’s best performance comes
with the other lead singer, Jodi Mar-
zorati, in Mood Indigo. A popular 1931
blues piece sung in the second act. Mood
Indigo gives the two singers an oppor
tunity to pull off a real show stopper.
Marzorati and Payne’s voices are made
for the blues/jazz music which forms the
core of the Duke’s repertoire. Their per
formances point out that Ellington’s
music is not only to be played by musi
cians, but sung by musicians as well.
Dan Strayhom gives the roadshow its
best male vocal performance. His mellow
voice seems to be the jjerfect counterpart
to Payne’s and he plays it for all it’s
worth in the song Sophiscated Ladies late
“The music has a lot to do with what
we feel and how we dance,” she said.
“We put forth the same amount of
energy for each song and dance but at dif
ferent levels,” Simmons said.
She said she was very excited about
the recital. “It’s going to be really nice,
really nice,” she said.
Crystal McDaniel another dancer,
agreed. “The recital is going to be very
good...It will go really well,” she said.
McDaniel said she liked the fact that
various dancers had choreographed the
dances for the recital.
“I like the individual choreography
because it adds a lot of diversity to our
dances,” she said , . , oi
(continued on page o)
Of Jazz
in the second act.
But if Duke Ellington’s music is
given a vocal dimension in Sophiscated
Ladies (for the first time for many of its
listeners), it is also given a dance dimen
sion as well. Tall lithe Lynn Sterling ex
presses Ellington’s smooth, sultry style in
Music Is A Woman in the first act and
keeps pouring on the steam as the revue
progresses. To compliment her perfor
mance is Bruce Anthony Davis (who
could be seen in All That Jazz). Davis is
like the street dancers hustling the streets
of New York for a few dollars — ab
solutely fine in every movement, yet with
a cocky style of his own.
Tap dancing Roger Spivy is the most
memorable dancer, for he alone is
responsible for the show’s fabulous tap
performances. With the show when it
originally was on Broadway, Spivy
shows that he’s used to giving a stellar
performance on the top side of his taps
while providing the show some variety.
Henry Letang, tap choreographer, does a
superb job of using Spivy’s talents to the
fullest.
Because the music forms the
backbone of Sophiscated Ladies, it needs
to be no less than fantastic — and it is.
Although Ellington's orchestra does not
play for the show, the musicians are of
such high calibre, it doesn’t matter.
The costumes for the show also
deserve honorable mention. Willa Kim,
who won a Tony award for her costume
designs in the show an often strange look.
Half set-Half costume, her human taxicab
in I’m Just a Lucky So-And-So is a work
of pure genius.
The Union Performing Arts Committee
The Fine Arts Festival and
The Curriculum in Folklore
present
BLACK TRADITIONS
IN
MUSIC, DANCE & VERSE
Fridayy March 29
7:30 P.M.
Great Hall
FREE!
SL: Fine Evening