As the lights went down at Saturday’s final show of Pedinamento, this year’s performance by the Graffiti Dancers, cheers rose from an enthusiastic audience. Despite producer Will Wilhelm’s apologies for the technological difficulties the show was experiencing that evening—their films weren’t working—the enthusiasm never dulled and was kept up throughout the entire show by both dancers and the audience.
The dances covered a range of styles, from soft contemporary in pieces including “28 Days” to light-hearted jazz in “The Date”; from eccentric glow-in-the-dark hip-hop in “Come and Get Me…If You Dare,” to mysterious modern in “Morning Murder,” the show’s finale. The mood, reflected through the music, was at times melancholy, amusement or joy. All of the dancers did a phenomenal job expressing the mood and the meaning of their dances, regardless of the task with which they were presented.
Though the show was thematically varied, Graffiti truly exemplified the power of dance through their 90-minute performance. Dancers were sharp, on beat and together across the board, even during breaks between dances to transition from hip-hop to ballet. Each performer called attention to themselves at a point, and in group numbers, the personality of individual dancers managed to shine through while the group remained unified, a tremendous feat.
Pedinamento made audience members, laugh, cry, and cheer, bringing them up on highs and down to lows. Each dance provoked plenty of thought for the walk, drive, or bike ride home from Norris.