In a celebration of Boston University’s music and dance community, BU’s Student Activities Organization produced the BU Student Performance Showcase on Thursday at the Tsai Performance Center.
The showcase, designed to introduce BU’s arts performance groups to new students, was organized by SAO event managers Kobi Kassal, Cassidy Donohue and Christopher Remillard.
It also allowed BU’s performing arts groups to demonstrate their skills to incoming and returning students prior to Saturday’s Splash, BU’s annual activities fair. And the interest was there, as the show had sold out on Eventbrite prior to the performance.
“It really showcases the different vibes of each group, just to see who would want to join at Splash,” said Donohue, a junior in the School of Education.
Kassal, a junior in the School of Hospitality Administration, said the performance showcase — the second such event organized by BU’s Student Activities Office — was planned over the summer by the team of SAO event managers.
“We reached out to every group on campus over [Facebook] Messenger, to see if anyone was interested,” Kassal said. “We got an overwhelming response from the a capella groups, since they already had something prepared.”
The groups performing included In Achord, the Treblemakers, Terpsichore, the Allegrettos, the BosTones and the Dear Abbeys.
The production also featured performances by BU Jewish a cappella group Kol Echad, Christian a cappella group Mustard Seed, all-female a cappella groups Chordially Yours and Aural Fixation.
BU On Tap, which bills itself as the university’s only tap dancing group, joined the 11 vocal performances as the non-singing performance group of the production.
“This is a brand new team, and the event managers are a brand new position,” said Remillard, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences.
“We’ve done this event last year, and we want to do it again,” Remillard noted.
As for the performers themselves, they were more than enthusiastic to be a part of this event.
BosTones member Blake Hina, a senior in the College of Engineering, considered the event “a really good idea.”
“It definitely wasn’t here freshman year, and it’s the best way for incoming freshmen to find out about and see all the groups here at BU,” Hina said.
Dear Abbeys member Jeffrey Wang, a junior in the Questrom School of Business, said that it’s “always fun to perform in a packed, sold out auditorium.”
According to Wang, the Dear Abbeys have a history with these kinds of events.
“We used to host a showcase right before Splash, so it’s great to see more groups joining in,” he said.
Emily Fraser-Read, a sophomore in the College of Engineering and a dancer with BU On Tap, said that the showcase was a “great opportunity for people who don’t know who BU On Tap are, and it serves to spread awareness about what the show is all about.”
“It’ll be different, but it’ll be exciting for the audience,” Fraser-Read said before the show. “They won’t expect dancing after a lot of singing.”
Attendees showed just as much interest and excitement for the production.
Audience member Efrain Hernandez, a sophomore in the College of Communication, said he especially appreciated not only the talent that was presented in the showcase, but also the introduction to the unique creativity at BU.
“It was really good,” Hernandez said. “It did a great job of showing the art scene here at BU.”
