This year’s “Under The Big Top” event was an exciting showcase of Skidmore’s many talented performance groups. Each group was fun and on their game, showing all families in attendance what the Skidmore performing arts scene is all about.
The night was emcee’d by Luke Conley of Skidomedy, who added some humor to the night and captured Skidmore’s largest selfie from the stage with a record breaking audience of 1,100 people.
As for the performances themselves, the relatively new Circus Club opened the show with a bang, featuring their various circus arts and performance skills. Following them came the Bandersnatchers, Skidmore’s only all-male a cappella group, singing their classic version of “Good Old A Cappella,” the UJIMA Step Team delivering a thrilling step routine, and the Treblemakers, who sang “Same Love” by Macklemore with a rap solo performed by Alexa Danoff ’15.
Next, SkiDaiko, Skidmore’s Japanese taiko drumming group, combined strong drum beats with visual flair to create a unique drumming experience, and the Drastic Measures, Skidmore’s only co-ed charity a cappella group, performed “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons. From there, the show featured some dance acts with Rithmos, Skidmore’s jazz and hip hop dance group, followed by the all-female Sonneteers, Skidmore’s oldest club, performing a mashup of “Beautiful Girls” by Sean Kingston and “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King, and then Stompin‘ Soles, Skidmore’s lively tap dance club.
Skidmore’s gospel choir, Lift Every Voice, sang a mix of traditional and contemporary gospel, Cabaret Troupe performed the opening song to this semester’s musical production, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” and Skidmore’s all-female Accents and co-ed Dynamics performed a cappella.
To round out the night, PULSE! brought the fun with their found objects percussion performance, and the Breakbeats closed the show with original choreography to a mashup of popular hip hop songs.
Overall, the night was dynamic and entertaining, presenting the wide variety of performance groups that Skidmore has to offer.