Dasha Mamontova (284)

With the AASU Showcase happening, I thought it would be a perfect time to sit down with Sydney Rae White (284), a chair on the AASU dance committee to find out more about the process of the dance auditions as well as how the decision is made regarding who makes the cut and who doesn’t. 

Sydney said that she and Synai Rorie-Hands (285), the other chair of AASU, split everyone up into two teams: Team A and Team B. For the most part, each team has a different set of dances that they learn before auditioning. These dances are taught over two days, giving team members time to practice at home before coming in on audition day. On the day of the audition, the dances are practiced one more time before the teams perform for the chairs. The auditions are recorded so that Sydney and Synai can look over the videos at home and make their selections. 

As far as the selection process goes, Sydney says, “In the audition, people can mess up, [but] if they’re giving energy and we can tell that they’re into the dance and they’ve been practicing at home… those are the things we look for.” When asked about bias in picking who makes it, Sydney talked about how they try to be unbiased and “give everyone a chance to shine during the performance.” They try to switch up the people in the front “because when you’re in the front, that’s how you build up your confidence, and that’s how you dance better,” Sydney says. Another thing that AASU Dance does to try to bring people out of their shells is holding dance battles for people to get a chance to dance in someone else’s spot. “You always have a chance to come to the front; you can battle anyone in any spot to steal their spot… even if you don’t pass the audition… you could battle into it,” Sydney explains. 

Per usual, this year’s AASU Showcase was unforgettable. With passion, energy, hard work, and a bit of friendly competition, Sydney and Synai ensured that everyone got their moment in the spotlight.