Attendees watched various bands perform at the official event.
GRACE CARDINAL/ THE QUADRANGLE
from Grace Cardinal, Editor
The fifth annual Higgins Atrium Performing Arts Concert was held last Friday. Decorated to match the starry night theme, students danced the night away while enjoying food, music and performances by their peers.
“It’s just a great opportunity for like-minded people to come together,” said Andrew Bauer, director of performing arts. “It’s nice that we can host this event where they [students] everyone can be together and socialize because music is a very social art form.”
New to the event this year were the performances of the students involved in the various groups.
“This year we decided there would be some student performances, occasional impromptu performances,” Bauer said. “We’re going to do a few scenes from the Dogfight musical that’s coming up, and our little jazz band is going to play a little bit.”
The addition of performances was well received by the students in attendance.
“We picked some ensembles that could easily be performed for us in small groups, which is great,” said Keira Reinheimer, freshman in performing arts. “I think it’s a great idea because we can see it [the performances] and there’s live music right now.”
The event proves popular with students each year, with a large number of students involved in the performing arts department attending with their pros.
“Everybody who’s in the performing arts goes to that,” Bauer said. “They can bring someone as a date, that person doesn’t have to be in the performing arts, but a date or a friend. As far as numbers go, we get at least 200 people coming out for it, that’s a big group of people.
Formal planning takes over a month and includes securing a venue, catering, music and more.
“Every year it gets easier because it kind of works itself out,” Bauer said. “We have a formula that makes it work really well, but you need a good six weeks to get things together.”
Just as students are involved in the planning process, they are also involved in organizing the event.
“This year is a little different for me because I helped organize this one,” said Landon Scofield, junior performing arts. “Compared to last year, I had nothing to do with it. It was a little nicer to be behind the scenes and have more control over a different subject. We try to change it up a little bit every year.”
The event strives to give students a unique experience each year, making each form memorable in its own way.
“I think every year they want to make it a little different,” Scofield said. “One year we had a photo booth and another year we had a dance floor and just different places where we did it. We’re doing it at the Higgins Center in the atrium there… it’s a beautiful space. We just want to have something unique every year.”
Rheinheimer said the popularity of the event pushes those involved in the planning to make the official event exceed even the highest expectations.
“We’re saying, ‘We have to have high standards for this year’ so that next year will be even better, and we hope they will [the school] give us enough money to make it as good as possible,” Reinheimer said. “I know a lot of people have attended this event in the past, so I hope it continues. I think it’s great that it’s still a popular event and I want it to stay that way.”
Scofield said in the future, he hopes even more people will attend the event. “I’d love to see more people honestly, just come in, have fun, [and] bring their friends,” Scofield said. “People in the performing arts are just having fun.”