| 2 april 13, 2011 nubian message

April Gaddy, a senior majoring in mathematics education, began the show with the “Opening Ritual.”

Established in 1978,

DanceVi-sions was

North Caro-lina State

University’s first dance

group.

DanceVisions incorporates a variety of forms of dance into their performanc-es. Here the dancers dance ballet to Sade’s “Soldier of Love.”

Performing an original Bollywood number, one of DanceVisions’ focuses is diversity. Elements of Expression was DanceVisions’ 34th annual spring concert which consisted of diverse music genres and various forms of dance.

Each year the audience looks forward to what the last act of a DanceVisions show will be. The final performance is called the “Final Hotness,” which usually consists of a theme complete with matching dialogue, music, fashion, and of course dance. This year the Final Hotness was “Flashback Class of 1997.”

Photos by Melvin Moore

Dance VisionsMadavia Johnson

Passion, Grace, Style and Precision are only a few words that could be used to describe the phenomenal performance of the wonderful Divas of Dance Visions. These ladies provided an influential performance for the students at NC State University hosted by Carizma Thomas. Even though they struggled to become es-tablished on NC State’s campus, the founding seven young women and one man made this annual event a possibility. The Ladies performed very power-ful pieces that embraced Black people, their culture, and their struggles. Every year Dance Visions delivers choreography that is fresh and different each year. They did a wonderful job tonight, and I really enjoyed the ‘Rep Ur Flag’ piece, choreographed by Shavonna Haley and Jasmine Stockton, quoted Phyllis Hillard secre-tary of the African American Cultural Center. There were other performances such as: “The Freedom” which was choreographed by April Gaddy, the president of Dance Visions. “Soldier of Love” choreographed by Janay Brax-ton, “Lonely, but Never Alone” choreographed

by LaDonna Jones, “To Watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak” choreographed by Charl-lita Boyd and LaDonna Jones, “Forever Young” choreographed by Choneva (Eva) Huntley, and the explosive finale piece “DanceVisions High School Class of ‘97” choreographed by Jasmine Stockton and Shavonna Hill. TThese performances were truly one of a kind; the choice of music for each piece meshed perfectly with the stories and theme of the dances. The show also included spoken word by Carizma Thomas, who did a poem tiltled “My Hair” and a great guest performance by Payal Dance Acad-emy. “I enjoyed all the performances and I am looking forward to seeing what they have in store for us next

year” quoted Marissa Nelson Junior in Biologi-cal Sciences.