An Exclusive Look Inside a Terps Spring Show Practice

By Brittany Rohrssen -- (Oneonta, NY)

Every semester, over 30+ choreographers audition their dances to be apart of the Terpsichorean Dance Company's sold out show. On average, only 16-17 dances are selected to be apart of the semester's show. I got a chance to talk to two of the choreographers that were lucky enough to be chosen for the upcoming 2016 spring show. Amber Talbot, grad student, and Matt O'Sullivan, senior, have taken an interesting approach on the typical jazz dance and have turned it into an exciting, creepy routine focusing on everyone's "worst nightmare." Amber described the dance to me by saying, "it starts out with Brittany (me) as our scared child who wakes up in the middle of the night to see her dolls coming alive, which starts the creepy sequence of the dance."

Matt and Amber teaching their dancers.

The audition process for a dance to make it into the show involves a strict, time consuming two weeks of dancers auditioning for choreographers pieces and then once dancers have been selected, the dances audition for E-board.

Matt and Amber have until the end of April to bring their ideas to life and teach their dancers. At the end of April, the entire company goes through "hell week," which consists of rehearsing the show from beginning to end twice a day, Thursday through the following Wednesday until the show opens on April 28, at 8pm in Goodrich Theater.


If you're interested in seeing Matt and Amber's completed dance, along with 15 other amazing dances the dates of this semesters show are April 28th-30th. Tickets go on sale to the public a week before the show.