Although the University boasts more than 700 CIOs, some students still feel there is not an organization tailored to their interests. In this case, students can create their own CIO, which is just what third-year College student Stephane Glynn and his fellow members of DisturbANCE Dance Crew did.
"I recognized that there was no group on Grounds that does all kinds of dance and puts them together," Glynn explained. "That's what makes us unique."
As a first-year, Glynn co-founded DisturbANCE with a French exchange student, Elodie Liobard, during the spring of 2010. He was previously involved in the Mahogany Dance Troupe, but said he felt there was a gap in the University's dance CIOs, which he hoped to fill by starting DisturbANCE.
Glynn said DisturbANCE seeks to merge traditional genres of dance with members' distinct styles.
"Our goal is essentially to explore the dance world," Glynn said. "We want to find out more and experience as many different genres as we can. Everyone dances differently and has a different style. By experimenting we get to experience each other's style and forte and we get to blend our personal styles."
Former co-president and former University student Dilianna Bustillos said she was also involved in several other dance groups before joining DisturbANCE.
"I had tried other dance groups on Grounds, and I felt like they were too focused on one particular dance style," Bustillos said. "I've always done multiple genres and been interested in other styles and blending them."
Glynn said he created DisturbANCE to be more collaborative than a typical dance troupe, which typically has one or two choreographers.
"A huge thing for our group is collaboration," Glynn said. "In our group, everyone helps choreograph and that's how we experience other people's styles."
Current co-president April Millner said this is especially true when the group mixes individual styles.
"I've taken all these different styles, but I've never put them together to say, 'How can we make this ballet and hip hop,'" Millner said. "We're not trying to fit a certain mold, we just want to convey what we feel as dancers."
DisturbANCE hosted its first event last spring at the Forum at Observatory Hill, where its members performed and invited guest artists to showcase their skills. Since then the group has performed in several events around Grounds, including last semester's First Year Formal.
Millner said in the future the group hopes to increase its size and name recognition.
"I'd like to see [DisturbANCE] grow more in numbers," Millner expressed. "It would be nice to see more people aware of what's going on and get more interest while keeping the vibe of the group."
Glynn said retaining members can be difficult when CIOs are as new as DisturbANCE, but those who do discover the troupe are usually looking for exactly what the group offers.
"[Finding members was] hard for us because most of the time people who join self-select," Glynn said. "You have to be interested in what we do, and those people fit right in."
Glynn said their group of four to 12 members is much smaller than most dance groups on Grounds. Bustillos said, however, this makes it easier to keep in touch with the group and stay updated on each other's lives, even though she has graduated.
"I'm there for moral support," Bustillos said. "I follow them on Facebook and YouTube."
For the near future, the group would like to host more events and collaborate with other artists in the community, Glynn said.
"I feel like too often dance is too much of a limited mentality," Glynn said. "We want to open eyes to artistic possibilities"
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