By Rebecca Sirull, inside editor
Hip-hop dance crew Kinematix brought the funk to Blackman Auditorium with its annual showcase, FUNK’tion. The show incorporated performances by 16 dance groups, including fellow Northeastern crews, college groups from other campuses and hip-hop groups from around Boston. To close out the night, headliners Ade Willis, Sorah Yang, Keone and Mari Madrid and Choreo Cookies took the stage, greeted by the same tidal wave of energy that resonated throughout the building all night long.
Now in its sixth year, FUNK’tion has become a much-anticipated staple for Northeastern’s dance community. It is the product of eight months of planning by the executive board of Kinematix, which organizes everything from booking headliners and coordinating guest dancers, to choreographing its own performances.
For Kinematix member Jillian Gundersheim, all the effort paid off.
“I’ve seen a lot of years of Kinematix, I’ve seen a lot of different teams, I’ve seen a lot of different groups of e-board [sic], and I have to say that this year’s definitely exceeded expectations,” Gundersheim, a junior nursing major, said. “They were super versatile and receptive to team suggestions and making the team really unified.”
Kinematix president Bre’ona White said they aim to create a fun atmosphere where dance crews can perform without the pressure of a competition.
“With it being a showcase, people just genuinely love watching what you love to do, and I think that’s really important in the dance community,” White, a third-year graphic design major, said.
Several Kinematix members, including Gundersheim and White, agreed that the enthusiasm and support from the crowd is what makes performing onstage so much more exciting than practicing in the studio.
“I think that’s what brings the set to a new level,” White said. “You can perform it your hardest when you’re practicing and everything, but when you’re really onstage and you hear the crowd… it just feels so amazing to know that it’s an audience of people who really want to see you dance. It makes everything so much better.”
This year, the group decided to expand the excitement of FUNK’tion beyond the showcase. For the first time, the headliners stayed at Northeastern in the days following the show to host dance workshops, which were open to anyone for a small fee. Dmitrij Borscs, Kinematix vice president, explained that with the dancers coming out to perform, the group wanted to take full advantage of the opportunity to learn from them.
“Each teacher has a different style, so we had different teaching philosophies and thinking behind [each] dance,” Borscs, a junior finance and management information systems major, said. “Our first teacher was Sorah Yang; she’s a very intense dancer with very hard-hitting moves. [Ade Willis] was very intricate with small details and very fast. [Keone and Mari Madrid were] more about unique style, kind of like interpreting the music and how the singer sings the lyrics and incorporating the feeling into your moves and your body.”
While the members of Kinematix were eager to welcome guest performers to the school, many still consider practicing together as a group to be one of the best parts of the experience.
“It’s so amazing to be part of such a group of hard-working, professional, passionate individuals,” Gundersheim said. “Even though we come from so many different areas of Northeastern, whether it’s majors or parts of the world or cultures, we all just have a common goal of wanting to hang out and dance and listen to good music and have fun together.”
Photo by Maria Amasanti
