By Maya Liquigan

December 8, 2024

On Friday night, the Renegades En Pointe Ballet Club filled the Hive with magic to set the scene for their showcase to end the fall semester with vines of leaves wrapped around the stage and pastel flowers sprinkled around the room creating their own mystical garden.

Family and friends came to support the club and members in their only event this semester, as many of the club members are new to ballet. 

Marlena High, the president of En Pointe, said that the show was more casual and experimental than their previous productions. En Pointe has previously done one big production for each semester, but now holds one smaller production in fall to spend more time preparing for their spring production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

“We’ve had a great variety of people who’ve never danced before and people that have plenty of experience,” said the senior film and television major. “The dance world, especially the ballet world, can be really toxic and we want to get rid of that.” 

High said that part of the mission of the club is to show that “ballet is for everyone.” She said that some members were completely new to ballet, but she was inspired by the dedication they have put in this semester. 

Before they went on stage, En Pointe ran through the program as audience members enjoyed light refreshments and took in the enchanted scene before them. Fake leaves and flowers were scattered around the stage as whimsical music played in the background, transforming the Hive to a fantasy land.

Mikaela Abeyta, a junior game art major, said that they came to support their roommate who has been working hard all semester. They said that they were excited to see the final product after months of practicing for today. 

“I’m not much of a dancer, but I do love the passion people have for it,” Abeyta said. “And then the emotion because that does tie in with the art. You can see the feeling and then the effort and motive put into all these performances.” 

The showcase was hosted by Ashley Bell, a first-year musical theatre major, who guided the audience through the magic garden before each performance. The first of the 10 pieces was “In The Forest” and featured most of the club members. Soft music began to play and the screens behind the stage projected a scene to match the ambience of the first number. 

“The world blooms as wild flowers sway gently in the breeze,” Bell said as the 10 dancers waited for their cue. “The scent is sweet and earthy. There’s a subtle buzz of bees flooding from bud to bud. Watch as the flowers come to life and dance in the wind.” 

As the dancers filed on stage wearing pastel shirts and skirts, their hands raised up in synchronized shapes. They continued to let their bodies move to the music and let the story unfold. 

Victoria Joyson, a senior marketing major, smiled wide on stage and remembered how much she used to love to dance when she was younger. She first found out about En Pointe at Convocation and was excited to see how welcoming the club was. Joyson is graduating this semester, but said that being back on stage was a huge moment for her. 

“I’ve missed dance. It just used to be a huge passion and now I kind of lost it, but they were able to bring it back to me,” she said.

The show continued on to a variety of dances. Some were excerpts of their spring production and others went deeper in the enchanted world that En Pointe had created for the show. The team ran back and forth to the makeshift backstage area and changed their costumes to match the dark, dreary sequence or the more upbeat, vibrant number. 

Archer Bart, a first-year theatre major, said that he was excited to support his roommate at the show. “I’m excited to see a new side of people that I know, that I haven’t seen before,” Bart said. 

Bart was accompanied by Kat Liu, a first-year acting and communications double major. Liu said she had danced when she was younger which eventually led to her passion for theatre and acting. She said ballet is a hard form that many people don’t get an opportunity to try.

“When you think of ballet, you think of something that’s really difficult and people do it since they’re really little up until they’re really old,” Liu said. “Ballet hasn’t always been accessible to someone that maybe wants to start dance a little bit older in life.”

The audience clapped and cheered as the show continued and the dancers moved swiftly around the stage. They ran through each other’s arms and let their movements tell the story even at times when there was no music and all that was heard was the tapping of their feet. 

Sophie Peterson, a first-year creative writing major, joined En Pointe this semester but was scared to start ballet without any experience. “There’s a whole world of stuff that most people start when they’re little kids and I do not have that experience,” she said. 

Peterson said that En Pointe was filled with a variety of skill levels and she has never felt shamed for learning something new. 

“This was super cool to come here and to see just this welcoming, open space because ballet is not traditionally known for being welcoming and open,” Peterson said. 

As the show came to an end and the team linked arms to take a final bow, she said that it was fulfilling to meet a group at Columbia that just wanted to dance and have fun together.

Ladonna Mann from Chicago heard about the event online but has no other Columbia connection. She said that she often comes to the college’s events because of her appreciation for the arts and being able to watch “beautiful, talented young people just really express themselves in such a positive way.” 

When watching En Pointe’s performance, she recalled a time when ballet was very exclusive when it came to body image. She said that it was refreshing to see how much the dance world has changed.

“I’m glad that they were able to show that they are just as talented and can express themselves just as beautiful as a smaller person,” Mann said. “I was shocked but I was happy. I was proud.” 

Mann said that the performance was “part of the beauty of the world” and that ballet is for everyone. As she left the room, she walked away still feeling the passion that the dancers showed on stage. 

“The magic continues,” Mann said. “It continues and it doesn’t look like it’s going away.”