Koresh show mixes comedy, dance

Over 200 students and hundreds of other viewers piled into Tilson Auditorium for the first of the Performing Arts Series.

An interpretive dance group, Koresh Dance Company, performed at ISU Thursday evening to an all-time high of student audience members, said David Del Colletti, the event programmer and coordinator.

Koresh performed interpretive, ballet, jazz and lyrical forms of dance Thursday evening.

The show had two parts: "Looking Back: The Music of the 40s and 50s" and "Standing in Tears."

The beginning of the program was comedic, and the dancers were responsive to the audience.

One story, about an abusive wife making her husband move out and head West, was conveyed through the songs "Hit the Road Jack" and "Route 66."

The second half of the program took the audience from American music to Indian folklore.

Before Koresh, several local dancers gathered in the Heritage Lounge of Tirey Hall for a pre-dance show.

One of the dancers, Ryan Beckley, a senior Spanish major, performed a solo tap-dance routine.

The crowd applauded throughout his piece.

Beckley said he has danced since high school and he danced before Koresh to get the audience "in the dancing mood."

The Terre Haute South High School dance team, Expressions of Color Modeling Company and the Sparkettes also performed.

Jennifer Cook, assistant director of Hulman Center businesses and marketing, helped plan the pre-dance show "the Pepsi Dance Celebration" as well as the Koresh Dance Company.

"We are really trying to do education through entertainment," she said.

Chris Berchild, assistant professor of theater, teaches a graduate class in styles similar to those of Koresh.

"I use video to teach the style the company uses," he said. Del Colletti said he chose Koresh because he viewed them in January and thought they were "dynamite dance."

He said the dancing is very provocative, and he liked the variety of dancing Koresh incorporates in their performances.

Sydney Twiggs, an eighth grader at Honey Creek Middle School, is a dancer and went to view the different styles Koresh exhibits.

"I liked the group pieces, because they stand out because they are well synchronized," she said.

( Heidi Staggs is a freshman communication major. She can be reached at sascamed@isugw.indstate.edu.)