Western Reserve Academy is thrilled to present its spring dance performance Survey Says inside our Knight Fine Arts Center.
Friday, May 16, at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 17, at 7:30 p.m.
Admission is free with open seating.
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After countless interviews and conversations with our Dance Program faculty Katie Velbeck and Ali Anzaldi ’13, it’s quite clear that these two creative forces have a well of excellent ideas that will never run dry. As the leaders of one of the most popular programs on campus, they bring talented students and swarms of friends, family and fans eager to support from the audience chairs. Each year, their themes are inspired, as surprising as they are unifying, relevant, nostalgic, fun, poignant, you name it.
And over the years, the suggestions have come trickling in.
You know what would have been a really great song for that show?
Hey, you should try doing this.
Have you heard of this?
You have to see this.
It’s the occupational hazard of running a beloved program: everyone wants in. The tricky part, of course, is weaving in stray suggestions into a cohesive performance, especially when you’ve spent months storyboarding a specific theme.
But what if the theme was the suggestions?
Thus emerged the idea of Survey Says, this year’s final dance production. “This was a pretty easy way to involve everyone,” said Anzaldi. “And it really gives people what they want. Or, at least, as many as we could fit into one show!”
After announcing the concept in January during Morning Meeting, Anzaldi and Velbeck sent out a survey to students, faculty and staff, inviting them to share song suggestions: at least one upbeat and one slow. Within days, their inbox swelled with responses — some heartfelt, some cheeky, a few bordering on the avant-garde. In the end, over 60 suggestions were submitted, many including multiple tracks.
“There were hundreds of songs to go through,” said Anzaldi, detailing hours she and Velbeck devoted to listening to the tracks in a strange and wonderful kind of treasure hunt.
Some submissions delighted by surprise: a jubilant merengue classic, Suavemente by Elvis Crespo, courtesy of Dean of Academic Affairs Wanda Boesch-Cordon. Others leaned on the nostalgic: Maple Leaf Rag, Scott Joplin’s turn-of-the-century earworm, surprisingly submitted by Timothy Ledrich III. Go Timothy! Our dear Director of Internal Communications Laura Stropki proposed the romantic La La Land medley. And then there were the fan favorites Rihanna and Bruno Mars, artists in such demand that they’re in the program as medleys.
“We’re crediting everyone whose suggestions made it into the program,” said Anzaldi, adding that it felt important to acknowledge all of the voices who shaped this production.
One of the pieces she’s looking forward to debuting most is Maple Leaf Rag, where dancers don the spirit of a silent film, complete with an old-timey countdown screen, an ice cream vendor and a cascade of slapstick mayhem. “It’s been a great entry point for a conversation about theatricality in dance,” said Anzaldi. “But we always remind them that even the pieces that aren’t obviously narrative require expression, intention — performance beyond memorizing the steps.”
“I think it really clicks for them during tech week,” said Velbeck. “When the lights come on and they’re in costume, suddenly they realize it’s not just about nailing the choreography. You have to connect — to each other, to the audience, to the feeling.”
The program also features seven original pieces designed by students, including one group of soccer players who have traded their cleats for choreography. “Some of them are performing in multiple numbers, some are stepping way outside their comfort zones. It’s all pretty impressive,” said Anzaldi.
When you look at this production from start to finish, what you see is less of a unified narrative and more of a spirited patchwork — each dance a standalone short story, stitched together with energy, emotion, sequins and footwork. One number evokes love and loss; another, joy. There’s musical theater, ballet, modern, a swashbuckling hip-hop piece set inexplicably (yet delightfully) to a remixed sea shanty.
“There’s something for everyone,” said Velbeck. “And I think people will leave the theater with at least one song stuck in their head and maybe a new artist to look up on the way home.”
Of course, as with every spring performance, this one arrives with a touch of heartbreak: it’s the final curtain call for the 23 seniors who’ve spent years dancing under the guidance of Velbeck and Anzaldi.
“We’ll definitely cry,” said Anzadli, not quite joking. “I think they will too. You can see it in rehearsal — it’s starting to hit them that this is the end. It all goes so fast.”
Before the curtain falls, they’ll step into the KFAC lights one last time, their movements echoing the voices of a community that, quite literally, helped choose the soundtrack. And for one evening, set to the syncopated rhythms of Elvis Crespo, Bruno Mars and Scott Joplin, it will all make perfect sense.
Break a leg, Pioneers.
