Starting tonight, the newly renovated Stewart Theatre will be packed with students and members of the NC State community, ready to see a show that hasn’t happened in Raleigh in 18 years.
BANDALOOP, a dance company that uses harnesses and walls instead of the floor to dance, has been asked to come back to kick off the NC State LIVE series, the newly renovated Talley Student Union and the reopening of Stewart Theatre.
“[BANDALOOP] is a truly inspiring dance company that really shifts people’s perspective and really opens people up to different possibilities,” said Sharon Moore, the director of NC State LIVE.
The dance company performed at the grand opening of the Talley Student Union Sept. 9, but the group is back for performances tonight and Friday. Both shows will begin at 8 p.m.
According to Moore, the return of BANDALOOP has been in planning for more than a year.
“As the planning was beginning for the renovation of Talley, I knew we needed to bring BANDALOOP back to celebrate,” Moore said.
Moore still remembers when they first came to NC State in 1997. They performed at the education building, the government mall downtown and at the front of the Talley Student Union.
When Moore thought about bringing BANDALOOP back to the Talley Student Union, she figured that they would be able to “help capture the spirit of this awesome building.”
Even though BANDALOOP has been in planning for a long time, a number of preparations had to take place in order to make the group’s performance the best it could be.
Andrew Korhonen, the operations and event coordinator of University Theatre, commented on the many changes that they had to make since BANDALOOP arrived.
The black runway, which was installed earlier last week, has had its share of modifications. The runway was slated to be on the side of the third floor, but was moved to the fourth floor.
BANDALOOP also had to change its routine. Due to the stair outcrop, only three members of the group could fit on the runway, instead of the intended four.
“Nothing was really as planned, but it makes for a better show in the end,” Korhonen said.
In addition to all of the stage preparations, BANDALOOP has held rehearsal sessions before and since their arrival at NC State. They rehearsed twice a week for five weeks before they got here, according to BANDALOOP’s founder, Amelia Rudolph.
Moore said they started rehearsing in Stewart Theatre Sunday night and have been practicing on sight every day since.
A group of students was invited to an open rehearsal Tuesday, where they were allowed to sit in on a part of the process of getting ready for the show. Nathan Rackers, a freshman studying first-year engineering, was a part of the group.
After the experience, Rackers noted they had a very interesting rehearsal process, which he had never seen before in a theater production.
“They had so many minute details they had to work out in the way of timing and choreography,” Rackers said. “They had to go over certain parts over and over in order to get them perfect.”
While tickets are nearly sold out for both of the shows in Stewart Theatre, BANDALOOP will also perform Saturday at 6:50 p.m. on the new Aloft Raleigh hotel on Hillsborough Street.
A member of Bandaloop performs a vertical dance routine. Bandaloop performed at the Grand Opening of Talley Student Union on 9/9.
