The crowd becomes quiet, the lights dim down, and the stag is illuminated with a glow of anticipation for the show to come. Nothing can overcome an evening at the theatre enjoying the wonderful stories expressed through the form of interpretive dance. With each dance show there’s so much that supports each dancer, each dance number, and the entire production. Between the props, theatre seating, performance space, and costumes, all can help bring out the show as a form of great entertainment and more importantly, a success!! “An Evening’s Dance” was quite an interesting show in the fact that once I arrived, the seating style was much to my liking. In a modified American style seated theatre, I sat on the back section of the theatre with the stage and proscenium arch located in front of me. This helped enhance the dancers since they were the center of the audience’s attention, and provided them depth in the stage in order to add different perceptions throughout the production. For example, the proscenium arch was located near the Grand Drape in the theatre, meaning it comes from both sides of the stage and closes in the middle. The lighting was quite different for this show than others I have seen, the light change periodically with the music to portray moods such as sadness, anger, and happy. Tied to the lighting, was the music and sound for each dance number, with each girls dance moves based on changes in both lighting and sound.

In the last dance number, the girls were all set up on stage with the lights off and multiple chairs used as props for the dance. They danced around, on, and even moved the chairs at one point for the dance production. Each girl had a specific costume, some wearing different leggings than others, but all wearing some form of a colored shirt unbuttoned to make the setting seem like they were in school and that the chairs were their seats within some sort of class. Twice during the dance number as well, the lights and sound both cut out, seeking to persuade the audience that the dance is and show are over, but only misguiding this assumption. The dance continued and a new type of tap-dancing resumed, sometimes dancing on the chairs and other girls dancing in front. As costumes throughout the production changed with each girl, with each dance, most portrayed a certain theme such as black pertaining to some sort of evil and white meaning the greater good in one dance number as the girls dressed in black tried to take a girl dressed in white away from another. Each dance tells a story, and this such number was interpreted to show the difficulty it is to maintain Christian values in today’s society. As you can already tell, this production provided some most interesting knowledge while also presenting entertainment to all that were involved viewing and dancing. From the different kinds of prop, to the stage setting, to the audience seating, “An Evening’s Dance” well organized use of all helped piece together an enjoyable experience for myself and those just there to enjoy a evening of wonderful entertainment.