Spirit of Color really does mean business

“S-O-CEEEEEEEEEEE!” A familiar call you might hear on campus year-round is sure to be heard even more often this week as Spirit of Color (SOC) puts on their semester show entitled “We Mean Business.” The show -- scheduled for Thursday, April 23, and Friday, April 24 -- always garners attention from a wide variety of students on campus, perhaps a direct result of the diversity of the group itself. From members of Greek life to a cappella stars to LUX models, SOC manages to cover all bases in terms of its membership.

Founded in 1993, SOC’s goal was to create a “means of cultural expression through singing acting and dancing,” according to the group’s website. Once the average Jumbo gets through their first year, it is safe to say that most students on campus have at least an idea of what Spirit of Color is and its purpose on campus. But according to its current members, what is SOC really? In an interview with the Daily, Daniel Camilletti, a sophomore and recent permanent member of the group said it is “definitely … a hip hop and contemporary group [that is] one of the more talented groups on campus."

“To me, SOC is really a family first and foremost,” senior Emily Rennert reflects. "We are such a cohesive group and one of the reasons our shows are so successful … is because we all work so well together.” 

Sitting in on an SOC rehearsal, it is easy to see just what these two members mean when they speak of these aspects of the dance group. Early on a Sunday morning in the aerobics room of Hill Hall, Nicki Minaj can be heard providing a wake up call for the 26 current SOC members. Unlike the rest of the campus on a weekend morning, SOC is brimming with excitement, seemingly unable to stop moving at all. Rennert and junior Hayley Grossman, an assistant director of the group, lead the troupe in rehearsing one of their pieces for “We Mean Business.” SOC is an entirely student-run organization, a dynamic which might normally come with some difficulties in instruction. But it’s a different story in SOC. 

“For any choreographer there’s never really an issue; there’s a huge level of respect,” Rennert said about the group's strong dynamic. “I started choreographing my sophomore year … I had seniors in my dance who listened and were ready to work.”

The dancers of SOC were certainly ready to work in Hill Hall last Sunday morning. Although Grossman and Rennert stood at the front of the group instructing the dancers in rolls, twists and ball-changes, each individual member seemed to take the choreography into their own head, attempt it a few times on their own until it seemed right and then proceeded on to the next few steps. This pattern of cohesive independence continued for the majority of the dance's walkthrough. When it was time to put what they had learned to music, the music began and, almost magically, all individual dance performances coalesced into one seamless group performance in which every member relied on one another in a way that their previous rehearsing might not have demonstrated. Boys, girls, seniors, sophomores and everyone in between came together to work on a piece and perform as one functioning body.

SOC conducts their rehearsals Thursday though Sunday. Some members are involved in all of the pieces, some in only one or two. Any member that has been involved two semesters in a row can choreograph a piece. Although the majority of their work is centered around the end-of-semester performance, the group has been attempting to participate in competitions outside the university. Sophomore Oliver Gonzalez-Yoakum, an assistant director of the group, explained that these competitions do not normally align with their rehearsal schedule and would require them to produce pieces of higher quality and quicker paces. Regardless of these factors, SOC is continuing to seek out these competitions.

After recently being inducted as a permanent member, a prestigious accomplishment, Camilletti spoke about the rigorous audition process that allows for the creation of such a talented group.

“I auditioned four times,” Camilletti said. “It’s a five-hour process where you audition for two [separate] pieces … and then there’s a callback. It’s really tough and competitive.”

Camilletti added that in order to become a permanent or official member, dancers must make it past auditions for two consecutive semesters.

"If you make it and go abroad, you have to audition two more times [to be considered an official member],” he said.

Clearly, SOC membership is no easy feat, and it is a standard on which members of the dance group pride themselves.

Although SOC has strong ties to hip-hop culture, the group has also been known to incorporate genres of music and dance as diverse as its members, ranging from jazz to ballet, tap to modern. 

But on a campus teeming with performance groups, what sets SOC apart?

According to Gonzalez-Yoakum, SOC stands out because it "has dancers that come from really different and diverse backgrounds … you can have a salsa dancer next to a modern dancer next to a ballet dancer.” He further postulated that -- in contrast to SOC -- groups like Sarabande are perhaps stricter about the styles of dance they choose to perform and emphasize extensive previous training in modern dance, ballet, jazz, etc. Meanwhile, SOC maintains less regimented requirements of exactly how much professional training a member needs to have; sometimes, members have no real professional training at all.

“I tell this to anyone that tells me they want to try out for SOC … 'you have to dance first and foremost, but it's really about your facials,'” Rennert said. “There is just … so much energy up on that stage.”

She believes this is just one of the many aspects that allows SOC to grow and develop as its own independent group. Formal requirements aside, it still takes a significant amount of work.

“It feels very grown-up in a sense that, along with mastering the dance moves, you have to ensure that the show itself is successful as a whole,” Gonzalez-Yoakum said of his position as an assistant director for the group. Along with Grossman and director Bridget Brazil, he is responsible for a wide variety of logistical tasks including reserving spaces for rehearsals and the performance itself, finding techies and stage managers and promoting publicity. Needless to say, their jobs entail more than just going through the motions.

What can the audience expect from “We Mean Business”?

“I’m obsessed with this show,” Camilletti exclaimed. “There’s a wide range of styles … a little Latina flavor … some hard hitting hip-hop, some pretty soft contemporary.”

Gonzalez-Yoakum elaborated further about the anticipated quality of this semester's performance.

“Something happened this semester in which the quality of every single piece just changed … everyone seemed to try just a little bit harder,” he said.

While there is only one dance in which all members perform, Gonzalez-Yoakum has noticed a change in attitude across SOC, one that is sure to lead to an increase in quality of the performance. 

SOC's show, "We Mean Business," will be performed tonight at 9 p.m. and Friday at 9:30 p.m. in Cohen Auditorium. Tickets are free and available at the Cohen Box Office. The show will also feature performances by Envy, Blackout and Sarabande.