Though the temperature in Collis Common Ground on Saturday night was already high, the dance troupe Sheba managed to turn up the heat.
With new routines, props, costumes and a sexual tone, Sheba captured and held the attention of the audience.
Sizzling with sensuousness, the group blazed through thirteen dances in a performance that capitalized on talent and choreographic variety.
An opening video of assembled clips from prior performances grabbed the audience's attention, while the pulsing theme song from "Mission Impossible" prepared them for the high-energy production.
Sheba took the stage amidst a smoke screen with Janet Jackson's "Rhythm Nation." In tight formation, the twenty members impressed the audience with their smooth controlled dancing. Moving masterfully through quick complex footwork, the group revealed their skill in choreography as well as dance.
Breaking up the three-part performance were skits by other prominent campus entertainers, the Dog Day Players and the Rockapellas.
The Dog Day Players' improvisational skit included a hilarious sequence called "JV Sheba," in which the comic group satirized Sheba's dance moves.
The Rockapellas interspersed Sheba routines with a number of their renowned a capella creations.
Sheba introduced props to the performance using wooden canes in "Kane Dance" to accentuate the beat of the music and add variety to the dances. Despite the difficulty in working with props, the group maintained perfect unison.
The surprise of the number came with a series of trick throws in which the dancers threw their canes out and away from them but, by way of a virtually unnoticeable plastic line attached to their wrists, drew them back from midair.
The dance "Heba" highlighted the raw energy of the group. The four male members of Sheba jumped, dove, tumbled and grooved in a sporty hip-hop display.
For "MJ Compilation," Sheba captured Michael Jackson's dance style in all aspects, complete with fedoras and white socks. Drawing from his videos, the women members reenacted the confrontation of "Beat It" and, forming a line, recreated the visual effect of Jackson's video "Black or White," although the baggy white shirts muted some of the upper-body moves.
Sheba members then paired off to dance the sensuous "Santana" number, thrilling the audience with sexy lifts. The Latin-based dance drew cheers from audience members as the rhythmic ballroom-like dance entangled the four couples.
The sexual tension skyrocketed with "Get Off." After inviting several male audience members to the stage, Sheba members, both male and female, teased them with a routine of provocative moves and gyrations.
The finale of the performance, "Try a Little Tenderness," brilliantly combined ballet with modern dance. While the piece began with two members of Sheba dancing classical ballet, the choreography built off the transitions of the music--shifting the style of dance as the song moved from piano to a full band and involving more and more dancers as the music increased in intensity.
