Dozens of Fata Morgana dancers poured out of the black box into the English hallway, embracing their families and friends after an hourlong performance. From sound issues during a dance to Rihanna’s “Please Don’t Stop the Music” to Head of School Russell Shaw dancing down the stage to “Everybody Dance Now” by C+C Music Factory, “Fata Night Lights” on Thursday was an eventful night.
Fata Morgana, GDS’ student-run dance company, ran its winter showcase from Wednesday, Jan. 14 to Friday, Jan. 16. The show featured seven miniature openings with five or six dancers each and 15 full-length dances. The full company performed the first and last full-length dances. Consistent with the “Fata Night Lights” sports theme, Fata dancers began the show in cropped blue sports jerseys and finished the show with cheerleading pompoms in hand.
Co-head senior Zoe Maas choreographed the opening full-length number, in which the full cast danced to the Black Eyed Peas’ “Let’s Get it Started.” Senior Anjali Martin-Shanker, the other co-head, choreographed the closing number to “Thunder” by AC/DC.
Soon after the opening number, Martin-Shanker performed a solo dance. Halfway through her solo on Thursday, the sound cut out. Martin-Shanker continued to dance without music for most of the song. Later in the program on Thursday, the sound cut out during a dance to Bruno Mars’ “That’s What I Like” and continued to fail during two other songs before intermission.
According to freshman Charlie Smith, a member of the sound crew, the crew’s music player disconnected from the black box’s sound system at points prior to intermission. “It happens every so often if the system has been used for a while without being restarted,” Smith said. The sound crew rebooted the system during intermission which fixed the sound disruption. (Smith is a photographer for the Bit.)
During many of the disruptions, audience members sang the songs themselves and enthusiastically cheered dancers on as they continued without backtracks.
“I think it was amazing to see how versatile the dancers were, and what I noticed about that is that whenever the music came back in they were 100 percent on beat; it was seamless,” junior Elena von Zastrow, another audience member, said.
The dancers didn’t seem too fazed by the interruptions either. They kept dancing and, for a few songs, even joined in the singing.
“Being entirely honest, it was almost kind of fun,” freshman Lilly Escola, a member of Fata, said about the disruptions. “The entire audience just started singing, and most of the time we were able to stay on the music even if it got muted.”
Near the end of the performance to “Everybody Dance Now” by C+C Music Factory, dancers took audience members up to dance with them on stage. On Thursday, sophomore Ellie Rubinfeld took Head of School Russell Shaw up to the stage. Audience members cheered as Shaw, who is completing his last year at the school, danced to the 1990s hit song.
“I don’t think he was so excited about coming, but he was a great sport about it,” Rubinfeld, who danced with Shaw, said. “I just saw him and was like, ‘Yep, Russell’s coming on stage.’”
CORRECTION (Jan. 26 at 11:02 a.m.): A previous version of this article incorrectly stated which dance Zoe Maas choreographed for the opening number; rather than “On the Floor,” Maas choreographed “Let’s Get it Started.”