There is a whole host of dance teams on campus for students to be a part of — but perhaps none of the existing teams are anything like The Production, a new hip-hop group that just formed last semester.

Unlike other hip-hop groups who may concentrate on stage presence and the intricacy of movement itself, The Production is marketing itself as a more “theatrical” hip-hop group.

“Every performance we do will have a con cept/story with char acters so the audience has something to follow throughout the perfor mance,” said Ricky Phu ong, a senior in design studies. “We want to present a story for [the audience] to connect with.”

Phuong co-founded the group at the beginning of last semester as a small project to do before his friends’ immi nent graduation.

“I had a couple of friends who were graduating last year, and [The Production] was a project we all kind of talked about,” Phuong said. “We were thinking ‘what if we did a set that’s more than just a hip hop performance? What if we added characters and a story?’”

Phuong said he intended for the group to be a one-time affair that would disband at the close of the semester — but his plans changed as the semester wore on.

“[During the semester] we picked up almost 20 people who were down to keep this up…we really bonded through the group,” Phuong said. “It was supposed to be a one-time project, but it grew into some thing much more.”

The group started re hearsing in January in preparation for its debut performance at last semester’s Asia Night —unfortunately, Asia night was cancelled. Still, The Pro duction was prepared to give a show.

“For Asia Night we had a sort of ninja-themed set,” Phuong said. “We had our costumes, and masks and ev erything. We threw in some martial arts, and some leaps and flips to kind of highlight the ninja-esque theme going on. It was really fun to put together.”

Phuong said he can’t say too much about the story for their latest work, but teased that the newest set will fea ture a love story that takes place in a “corrupted circus”.

According to Johnny Nguy en, a sophomore in computer science and social chair for the group, after the auditions last weekend, The Produc tion’s membership jumped from 21 to 35 members.

The Production took in dancers across a broad spec trum of skill — Phuong said some of its members had never really danced before joining the group.

“We didn’t want to push anyone away,” Phuong said. “If someone really wants to dance, we want to let them develop.”

“It’s not about people who are really good at dance but people who really want to dance,” Nguyen said.

Phuong also said the group’s schedule is more laid-back in comparison to other groups.

“There isn’t really a heavy time-commitment or any thing like that,” Phuong said. “The members themselves decide how much they want to be a part of the group — and I’m a senior, so I know people’s lives can be busy. So whatever people’s schedules are, and no matter how in volved a dancer wants to be… we try to work with them.”

According to Phuong and Nguyen, students don’t have to wait for auditions next semester to try out for The Production. The Produc tion plans to hold auditions for new members after every performance they do, and its debut performance will be at this year’s NC State’s Best Dance Crew competition in November.