By Annie Plitnick
Contributing Writer

The Performing Dance Portmanteau spring showcase is premiering on May 8 at 3 p.m. in the Schaeffer Auditorium. The event will be open to the public, and tickets can be purchased at the door or prepaid through the link in the club’s Instagram bio.

A range of dance styles will be performed including lyrical, contemporary, jazz, modern, tap, ballet and hip hop. Since the Performing Dance Portmanteau is a student-run club, the members perform, instruct and choreograph the entire showcase.

“The theme of the showcase this year is ‘Raising the Barre,’” Allison Beecher, the vice president and modern dance choreographer, said. “It’s about inspiration and really finding yourself through dance,” Beecher said.

The show will include two acts, with seven dances in each act and a 15-minute intermission in between.

“We want to create a more confident and uplifting atmosphere for our dancers and encourage them to be the best versions of themselves,” Hannah Laychock, the club’s president, said. “I am incredibly happy with how the showcase has turned out and how it has encouraged the dancers to raise the bar for themselves in some way.”

For some members, this will be their first time performing, while others have been on stage their whole life.

“It’s a way of expression,” Rory Misko, the group’s secretary and tap choreographer, said. “We all have the same idea of wanting that empowerment, to follow that theme, and raise each other up.”

Some members have practiced more than twelve hours a week to prepare for the showcase. 

“We all have so much fun doing it and we love getting to showcase everything we do,” Beecher said.

The club is also supporting local food pantry organization Friend Inc. through the showcase. Each member is asked to bring at least two canned items, and anyone attending the showcase this weekend is welcome to bring a canned item to donate.

“We do the can drive because it has been a community service event that we have done for years,” Kaylee Laychock, the public relations chair and jazz choreographer, said.

Members of the club also participate in different community service events throughout the semester. This year, they wrote Valentine’s Day cards for the local nursing home and teamed up with other clubs on campus. They also partnered with the Social Workers and Advocates of Kutztown to prepare and donate 130 bags of feminine products.

The club is open for students of any skill level to join. Students can come to try out the different styles of dance and get to know the members during a trial period at the beginning of the fall semester.

Tickets for Sunday’s show cost $5 for KU students and $7 for other members of the public. Tickets will be on sale at the door using cash or Venmo.