Despite publicity errors, Dance Guild pulled off another successful show this weekend. This semester’s theme was “Happy Is ….” Senior Marie-Renee Plona, a member of the Dance Guild leadership team, explained how this theme was inspired by a psychology class.

“We were talking about the different things that make people happy such as exercise, relationships, self-fulfillment … I realized that a lot of those things are true of the people who participate in Dance Guild.”

The theme was well-received by the audience. Senior Madi Goodman appreciated how “Happy Is…” made this semester’s show “seem more unique than previous ones which tended to focus on genres/decades. It sure put a smile on my face watching it!”

Many viewers and dancers thought this semester’s Dance Guild was one of the best. “The acts were varied and polished, and had a lot of creativity infused into them,” said senior Nathan Phillips. “I especially liked the originality of the Guild Guys Hip-Hop.”

In the line-up of satisfying routines, swing remained an audience favorite. “The moment audition swing came out to perform I knew that it was going to be great,” said Goodman. “Watching the dancers swing across their partners was amazing! I never knew they could do so many jumps, twirls and swings in such a short amount of time!”

The show, though full of thrills, was also bittersweet for graduating seniors. Lauren Cremean enjoyed many dances, like Audition Girls’ Hip-Hop “Senior Crisis,” not just for the quality of the dance, but for the people in them.

“I’ve loved seeing my choreographer friends grow up and mature in their dance and in their lives over the last four years,” Cremean said.

For all its strengths, this semester’s show was not without its weaknesses. One of the biggest problems was poor communication surrounding the Thursday show.

“This was the first Thursday show in a year and half and people were just not used to it,” said Plona. “We haven’t had the shows during Academic Advising in a while, and the cold has made it hard to realize that it’s already May!”

The obstacles resulted in fewer than two thirds of tickets sold.

“It was a bit discouraging to see such a low turnout for our first show but the crowd was energetic,” she said.

Despite the setbacks, those in the audience, like junior Kristin Roelofs, rated this semester’s Dance Guild an overall success.

“While I had my favorites,” she said, “I appreciated each dance, because I could see the time people put into them. I loved seeing the wide variety of talent that there is here at Calvin.”