Among the people is a curiosity that stirs as they walk into the dark auditorium. There are only a handful of people at this moment, but more will come in due to the support and interest they have for the dancers. Today, there is another event happening that many students and people are attending, but for this handful and a half of people to come to this event means the world to all the girls on stage. Soon, music starts to play, and the darkness becomes brighter with just a mixture of both dim and radiant lighting. There is a shuffle of dancers dressed in black, and then there is a burst of movement amongst them and a flashed story within those said movements. It sets the tone for the rest of the performances, as this was the start of the end-of-the-year dance event for the PC dance team.

It started on Friday, April 11th, at 6:30 PM, and was hosted in Belk Auditorium. The dance team’s first performance showcased a contemporary visual of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Lorde, from the Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack. The event was split into performances by each or multiple performers, and there was a vote between each “round” of certain dances. The first round of battles was of swing and contemporary. The second round was salsa and line dancing. The final was jazz and majorette (a dance type that combines jazz, ballet, and hip hop but is mainly rooted in African-American dance inventions and is mainly seen in HBCUs).

The first battle was swing vs. contemporary. The members wore a gold and clear/black cloth that was like a very short shawl, but was so beautiful either way. Kendis Green decided to swing with the captain of the dance team, Ja’Nya Austin, along with Catalin Columbs and Rylianna Hancheck, to the song “Ex’s and Oh’s” by Elle King. The said captain also did her work solo and danced contemporary to the song “Unstoppable.”

The second battle was that of salsa vs. line dancing. The starting girl was Angel Wells, who danced to “Country Girl Remix” by Tonio Armani ft. Jeter Jones. The next one was a salsa performance by Jacelyn Macsorri (if any of the names mentioned in this article are misspelled or wrong, feel free to email bluestocking) and Kendis Green to the song “Mi Gente” by J Balvin and Willy William. After that, there was a line dance from everyone to the song “Country Girl” by Luke Bryan. The final dance of this battle was with Kendis Green, Catalin Columbs, and Ja’Nya Austin, who did a salsa dance to “Calypso” by Luis Fonsi and Stefflon Don.

The third and final battle was centered around jazz and majorette dancing. The starting performance was from everyone and was a hip-hop dance, followed by a duet ballet dance from Rylianna Hancheck and Ja’Nya Austin. There was then a mashup hip-hop performance by everyone. According to the members, the track was made by Angel Wells herself because they couldn’t choose just one song, so she combined all the songs they wanted together, since hip hop was their favorite dance type/music. The next track was from Steven Universe and was “Do It For Her,” a duet ballet performed by Ja’Nya Austin and Kendis Green. Another duet ballet from Jacelyn Macsorri and Angel Wells, and the song was “Dirty Diana” by Michael Jackson. After that, there was a solo performance by Rylianna Hancheck as she danced to a cover of “I Got You (I Feel Good).” A majorette dance was performed after this by everyone and was led by Jacelyn Macsorri and was to “Sticky” by Tyler, the Creator. The final dance was to “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars from everyone.

Overall, the entire event from the Presbyterian Dance Team was phenomenal and the performances left the audience in awe, and with the battle theme, it was even more enticing and left one with a tough choice of which style was better. The dancers from the team were amazing and will be on a roll again next year.