Reflections Dance Company, also known as the RDC, is a completely student-run dance company here at Temple.
Founded in 2014, the organization started off with just ten members, many of whom dropped after the first semester, but the founders did not give up. Meet two of them, Zuri Saxton and Brittany Blass, who are both seniors and part of the founding group that did not lose hope in the RDC, as well as two officers, Faith Befano and Sarah Linebaugh. With Saxton and Blass’s last show approaching, the four reflected on their journey.
“We have 36 girls,” Saxton said. “Our first semester we started with 10 girls.”
“At this point to look back, especially since we were there at our first show, like we’re at 36 girls. And every semester we have so many girls come out and audition too. Just to see that room full is really meaningful because we remember when there were four people at that audition,” Blass said.
The ladies certainly don’t forget where they came from and the ideals that their organization was founded on. Simply put, its values are strong friendship, hard work, and continuing to do what you love. Saxton and Befano elaborated on this.
“What we aim to be is a safe environment for people to dance in a non-competitive space. We don’t compete, it’s just for people who want to continue moving and making friends through dance. We do shows once a semester, once in December and once in April, usually before the last week of finals,” Saxton said.
Adding to this, Saxton said, “I think for a lot of girls, it’s a sense of comfort and belonging. When you’re a freshman, you’re gonna gravitate to what you know, and a lot of girls just know dance and they know that they can form strong friendships through that. Our girls are really close. I say all the time that we’re a family, we’re Ohana, and I truly believe that RDC is exactly what that is. I know for me it is, being a founder and going through personal things in my life, I feel like RDC was one thing that got me through a lot of stuff.”
“A lot of us, we’ve danced our entire lives. When you’re a senior at your dance company, your last show is this big thing, and it’s like this mourning as if you’re never going to be able to dance again, which is absolutely bizarre. It was really exciting to find out that at Temple there were places that I could continue to dance, that I didn’t have to lose that part of me, because it’s been such a big part of my life,” Befano said.
If dance is a big part of your life but you don’t know how to get involved, the RDC is a great place to start your journey again. The girls are beyond friendly and their values are strong.
“Next semester, we will be having auditions,” Blass said. “Date has not been set, but if you follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, you’ll get more information about that.”
Adding to this, Blass said, “We do mostly modern based. Occasionally, we’ll do contemporary and lyrical. All of our choreographers are students in the group so we leave a lot of it up to them, whatever variations of that they want to do. Every semester we’ll try to offer one or two specialty dances.
For updates about shows, auditions and general information, you can follow them on Instagram @reflectionsdancetu, on Twitter @RDCtu, or search them on Facebook under Reflections Dance Company. For instant updates, email them at relectionsdancetu@gmail.com to join their listserv.