On April 15th, The Superlative performed its explosive sixth-annual dance showcase. The Superlative is an all-styles, multicultural dance team that features a blending of dance styles, which viewers definitely saw in last Saturday’s performance. This year’s theme was Avatar: Battle of the Elements and was inspired by Avatar: The Last AirBender. 

The show opened with hosts Tiane Parris and Lauren Jones. They explained that The Superlative team was in shambles and had split into tribes made up of the elemental groups of fire, water, wind and earth. These tribes were arguing with one another over who was more skilled and had the Avatar in their tribe. After this introduction, a comedic video was played. This video showed the chaos of The Superlative dancers breaking into the elemental groups and all the arguing involved. 

Before each tribe performed, “confessionals” played on the screens. In these “confessionals,” members of the tribes poked fun at the other elements and stated why they thought the Avatar was in their tribe. 

Thirteen of the 18 dancers choreographed this amazing show. 

“We geared the choreography towards Avatar with elements and spent hours and hours on the audio mixes,” senior Mark Anthony Graham said. “We also found quotes from our favorite music artists that had to do with the show and elemental noises like water from TikTok that mixed in with all our dances. We kept with the theme using Music from Legend of Korra, for example and for our program we used different images and fonts from the show, as well. We also had a description of the show Avatar: The Last Airbender, so people understood what we were talking about.” 

Samantha White is Co-captain of The Superlative, alongside Brianna Davis. White spoke about the time and effort that went into planning this event.

“Our recent showcase took lots of effort and late nights to put on, but it all paid off,” White said. “We choreograph and clean all of our own dances, make all the music mixes, [create] the program, [design] the graphics and [take] videos throughout the show, organize costuming and so much more. It truly took the whole entire team, as well as our advisor, to make this all possible. They all deserve a huge thanks.”

In Book I: Fire, fire set the tone for the rest of the show, beginning with a dance to “Roman’s Revenge” by Nicki Minaj, during which all the dancers wore bright pink wigs. 

In Book II: Water, water shifted the vibe of the show from a fiery explosion into a visually stunning, more lyrical and emotional performance. “I’m Tired” by Labrinth and Zendaya and “Woo” by Rihanna were some of the songs The Superlative danced to during this section. 

Nova Step Nation did a brief but amazing performance before The Superlative began Book III: Earth. 

In Book III, The Superlative did not disappoint with the Earth soundtrack, moving to songs like SZA’s “Low” and Beyoncé’s “THIQUE”. White did a heartfelt solo to “Slipping Through My Fingers,” by Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried. 

Davis commented on being a dancer this year, as well.

“I think my biggest thing is that the dance community on campus works really hard and the planning is not easy,” Davis said. “Planning a production takes 20 hours a week [with] practicing, and dancers shouldn’t be overlooked, especially the multicultural organizations that add more to the story. I’d love dancers to be more appreciated on campus. You can learn from us, too.” 

One of Villanova’s a cappella groups, Measure Up, sang a few catchy songs for the audience while The Superlative got ready for Book IV: Air. The crowd was blown away. This book featured a variety of dancing styles and music ranging from upbeat songs like Britney Spears’ “Circus” to slower songs like JVKE’s “golden hour.”

The show concluded with love conquering all in Book V: Love. The Superlative danced to songs about love, like Ariana Grande’s “Into You.” Freshman Karissa Shamah choreographed a beautiful tribute to famous dancer tWitch, who passed away this past winter.

White, at the end of the performance, revealed that she was injured and that the team had to modify the dances a few days out from the show. Davis commented on the team making these adjustments for her co-captain.

“We are dancers, it is a sport, and there are a lot of injuries that happen,” Davis said. “When that happens, we won’t say you can’t be in a number, I mean, we had someone dancing in a boot. You put in so much work, how could you not dance at your last showcase? We re-blocked those dances, all 20 she was in, two days out from the show. Attention to detail is important, and so is making sure everyone is included and isn’t left out just because of an injury. I think there were five members injured in the showcase.”

The Superlative brought a blend of different dance styles and music to their performance.

“I think something that is really amazing about the team is that we are a multicultural organization, and we dip into different dance styles,” Graham said. “The team is what we bring to it. Whatever styles and unique backgrounds we come from is what makes us The Superlative. All the choreography is student-done and original. We are always collaborating with each other. I am in a lot of clubs [and] I haven’t been in any team this diverse in terms of gender, race, ethnicity and cultural backgrounds. It celebrates and uplifts all people, their art and creativity. 

“It is hard because there isn’t a lot of space for dancers on campus and our advisors in the student performing arts, Manny Chacón, Beth Sokolowski and Christine Nass, have been amazing advocates and allies for us. Andrea who works on the lighting helped to enhance and elevate the performance.” 

“The Superlative is more than a hip-hop team; we are all styles [and] all inclusive,” Davis said. “Dance is supposed to be something fun, and we infuse a lot of different cultures. There is no team or club that is as inclusive of gender, race and sexuality. It is an inclusive group [and we wanted] to make a safe space for us. We have a lot of fun and learn from each other.”