As I approached the giant blue tent pitched in the middle of Tempel Green last Saturday, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. Unfortunately a line of people eagerly peeking inside for a glimpse at the a cappella groups gracing the stage blocked my entry. After careful maneuvering I managed to find a standing position inside the tent just as the host Luke Graves ’16 described his love of Oreos while Peter Herron ’14 scarfed down a box of Oreos behind his back. The act provided a subtle allusion to the research from Conn that suggested Oreos were as addictive as crack cocaine, a finding that made some national headlines. The lights dimmed and I made my way to a seat my friend luckily saved for me. Two dancers on stilts suddenly made their way through the crowded entrances and in front of the stage. A bunch of fluorescently dressed dancers appeared on stage and started executed impressive chorography to well-known pop songs. The women dancers wore brightly colored cartoon-like wigs with lights attached. For the latter part of the routine many Conn students joined the troop for a flash mob-style dance that used moves from “Gangnam Style,” “Wobble,” “Apache” and “Applause” along with several other dances as well. Before the headliner, Fighting Gravity, Rock Demarco took the stage. While Demarco’s act did not fit with the strictly theatrical dancing theme up until that point, he provided much needed variety and injected some hype into the crowd as he painted a fierce camel and a somewhat abstract version of the College’s crest in a mere couple of minutes. Demarco has made appearances on major TV networks like FOX and painted Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America.
Finally, Peter and Luke introduced Fighting Gravity. Fighting Gravity gathered mainstream attention from their season five appearance on “America’s Got Talent.” They went to the final round and came in third place behind classical singer Jackie Evancho and singer Michael Grimm. Singers usually manage to win reality talent shows. In “America’s Got Talent”’s eight-season run, four singers have managed to take the top spot. This frequency gives acts like Fighting Gravity a disadvantage and provides the reason why I wanted them to triumph. If I wanted to watch a singer win a reality T.V. show I might as well watch “American Idol” or “The Voice.”
Fighting Gravity formed at Virginia Tech and consists of 12 members, some of whom are still enrolled in college. Their routine consists of a delightfully simple concept but requires complex and impressive execution. They light the stage in only black lights and have about four visible dancers on stage at a time. The rest of the members are charged with providing the illusion the objects such as balls or glowing rods that float in mid-air around the dancers. The first routine featured their classic arrangement of a leader, in a white top hat and jacket, who systematically made three dancers appear out of the darkness beneath him. The three marionette-like figures, dressed in white hoodies and white pants, dance and float beneath the leader while a series of glowing green balls move through the air in synchronization with the dancers. They actually performed similar choreography that consisted of some of the same moves in their audition for “America’s Got Talent.”
However, the performance soon changed as they introduced two fake giant neon speakers on either side of the state. The color scheme also shifted to incorporate green, orange and red. Their use of objects exemplified by glowing red poles that disappeared, reappeared in another part of the stage or floated into the hands of the dancers provided a unique twist for those of us in the audience that followed them on TV. They also created an illusion where the rods acted as an entrance to a portal. They used these portals to disappear entirely or engage in a tug of war like motion for slipping into the abyss.
Perhaps their most inventive use of props occurred when they incorporated glowing orange skateboards into the act. The dancers floated around the skateboards as the boards themselves flipped in the air. They moved them in the motions of ollies, a motion that pops the board off the ground, and kickflips, a trick that causes the board to do a barrel role under the skaters’ feet. Watching the performance reminded me of watching videos of real skateboarders in slow motion on YouTube.
For the finale, the neon speakers opened up and shot fog rings from either side of the stage into the crowd. Suddenly the lights went out and they disappeared as quickly as they arrived. The tent cleared out as the food trucks arrived and a DJ with a live drummer soon started playing. The dance never really picked up even though the dance troupe that opened for Fighting Gravity came back to provide hype for the DJ. The night was an impressive showing for Conn as nationally known acts like Demarco and Fighting Gravity rarely visit campus. Our college wanted to not only celebrate the end of a $211 million campaign but also present a start of new era. Improvements to campus will continue such as the upcoming renovation for the library. Ultimately, Saturday night proved that Conn, can successfully prove itself to parents and donors alike among the increasingly competitive environment of small liberal arts colleges.
