Dancing with the Professors II
Last week was Washington and Lee’s second edition of Dancing with the Professors. Not only is it a good fund-raiser for the W&L dance program, but it’s proven a big hit with the audiences, too. In fact, it was voted best new event on campus by students last year.
Eleven professors participated in 10 dances this year, showing off their moves in everything from Backstreet Boys to Hannah Montana to an interpretive piece with a flashlight.
Jenny Davies, assistant professor of dance and organizer, praised the faculty contributions against this time: “The professors contribute ideas and choose songs; some choreograph and all work collaboratively with the students. It gives the student dancers a chance to work with their professors in a new way — they get a chance to teach their professors — and it gives the student body a chance to see their teachers in a new light. All of the W&L professors were such great sports. They gave it their all. One of my favorites was Dean Tammy lip syncing to Beyonce’s Countdown with the W&L dancers as her backup.
Audience members “voted” for their favorite act with money to help the W&L Dance Company attend the American College Dance Festival. In the case of students, of course, many “swiped home” donations (Thanks, mom and dad.)
The winners were the team of Paul Bourdon, professor of mathematics, with junior Erin Sullivan and senior Blair Gillespie. (Theirs was the team with the flashlight.)
The second place award went to a team that has now become a YouTube sensation. It’s the performance by Hank Dobin, dean of the College; Jenny Davies, assistant professor of dance and the event’s organizer; and juniors Jennifer Ritter and Astrid Pruitt. Together, the quartet replicated the popular online video by the band OK Go where band members dance on treadmills.
So here is a link to the original OK Go dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTAAsCNK7RA
And here is the video of the W&L Dancing with the Professors’ performance. Let us know what you think about this terpsichorean quartet. http://youtu.be/RwlMfWacars
If you know any W&L faculty who would be great profile subjects, tell us about them! Nominate them for a web profile.
