As the lights dimmed in Weasler Auditorium on Nov. 17, the “Pure Party” birthday showcase celebration began.
The all-female, student-run dance organization, Pure Dance Marquette, performed their fall showcase in celebration with Ally Weast, junior co-president and junior in the College of Nursing, 21st birthday.
Hannah Redican, senior in the College of Arts & Sciences and senior co-president, said how Pure Dance has grown since previous years.
“We have 20 new members so it’s going to be really fun to kind of debut our new members and our audience will probably be a lot bigger. We went from about 22 to now we have about 30 new members total,” Redican said.
Redican said she was excited to bring an opener back to the stage as she choreographed it.
“Our opener has 29 out of 30 of our members which will be a great way to start the show, super lighthearted and fun, and then we end with Avril’s dance,” Redican said.
Although Redican will graduate from her position as senior co-president, she has been dancing since she was three and said she does not plan on stopping anytime soon.
“I think it’s nice that Pure gives you an opportunity to continue your passion for dance but it’s not a super big commitment, so I think just letting everyone know that it is supposed to be fun and enjoyable and to take it all in because it goes so fast and I think just let yourself just love to dance. Don’t put too much pressure on it,” Redican said.
Avril Beesley, a sophomore in the College of Communication and PR chair, said she enjoyed designing the “Pure Party,” and is happy to expand the club’s PR efforts by creating new merchandise and a TikTok account.
“I made a little sneak peek video of our dress rehearsal, and said ‘Hey, here’s a sneak peek to our show. We better see you Sunday at 3 p.m.,’” Beesley said.
Pure has eight weeks of preparation before the dress rehearsal, on Nov. 13, and spend six hours a week running the dances during their usual practices on Sundays and Wednesdays.
“We practice from about 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.,” Beesley said. “We run through our dances as if we were doing it on stage like three times in a row to make sure we have the legging down and the places down.”
Beesley choreographed the closing dance to the Lana Del Rey song, “Blue Jeans,” after she heard it for the first time.
“I was thinking ‘This would be so cool to do,’ so the next day I just came up with formations; I came up with a little bit of choreography right in the beginning and it just started flowing on from there,” Beesley said.
The show also brought back a familiar guest act from MU Naturals, and welcomed the Hype Marquette Dance Team.
Beesley said she enjoys how each dance is different than the last which makes it more fun and enjoyable to watch.
“Most of our dances are like contemporary lyrical, we do have one jazz which is super fun it’s by one of our new members so that one’s more upbeat. We have some happy more upbeat songs, jazzy sassy songs and then we have our more sad songs,” Beesley said.
This is Beesley’s second year on Pure and she says the club is like a family.
“It’s something I thought I’d never experience because the only other way you can get an all-girls family experience is by doing sororities but by doing Pure, I’m doing something I love and meeting new friends. It’s a win-win situation,” Beesley said.
This story was written by Mimi Sinotte. She can be reached at [email protected].
