A&E

‘Hamilton’ star comes to Hurst

By Samantha Weber Editor in chief

On Saturday, March 26, Leslie Odom Jr. performed in the Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center.

The concert was sold out soon after tickets went on sale as many were excited to see the Broadway star perform.

The crowd lost it as soon as he first came out on stage and he and his band just jumped right into the first song.

Odom has had quite the career from starring in TV shows, movies and even on Broadway. Most people know him from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton,” where he played Aaron Burr in the original New York cast.

He was also in “Law & Order: SVU” and his latest film, “One Night in Miami” in which played Sam Cooke, who is known as the inventor of soul music.

During a break in the concert, Odom explained that he was initially hesitant to play Cooke and felt that there were other people who were much more qualified than he, but he was eventually persuaded into playing the role.

He even recorded some of the songs that were used in the movie, and, most notably, the last song “Speak Now” was an Odom original.

Odom received an Academy Award nomination for the original song and his performance in the movie.

Odom performed a variety of songs throughout the night. A few were some of his original songs, some were covers of older songs and some were songs from “Hamilton” that he sang as Aaron Burr.

He explained that the older songs that he performed are ones he discovered while watching some older films in preparation for his acting roles.

Although it was a dream come true to see him perform the “Hamilton” songs in person, there was one other song that he performed that really stuck out to me.

Odom began singing “L-OV-E” and after the first verse he continued singing it in a variety of different languages. It was really cool to see him step out of his comfort zone and sing in different languages.

Odom performed his original song “Foggy,” which he introduced as one of the most personal songs to him that he has ever written.

Another aspect of the concert that I really liked was that every member of his band had a featured part in at least one song.

It was nice to see the amazing talents of the band members highlighted throughout, most notably the musicians on piano and the drums.

Odom’s main point of the night that he kept repeating was that artists spend their whole lives trying to give back to the place where they found their passion for art.

He talked about the first time he saw “Hamilton Mixtape” in a tiny theater before it was on Broadway. Odom recounted roadbloacks in his attendance, seeing as the showing was completely sold out. However, his friend who was an usher at the theatre was able to sneak him in. He knew from the very first time he saw the show that it was going to be a hit.

Odom even told the audience he thought whoever ends up singing “Wait for It” eight times a week was going to be a lucky guy, and that guy ended up being him.

I am an avid “Hamilton” fan, so I was ecstatic when I heard the beginning of “Wait for It.”

The audience’s relentless applause at the end of the concert eventually led to two encores from Odom as he joked about how we should be watching the

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Leslie Odom Jr. performed to a sold-out crowed in the Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center last Saturday.

“SVU” marathon instead of staying at his concert so long.

This concert was originally supposed to be held in December as part of Odom’s “The Christmas Tour,” but COVID-19 canceled that performance. Thankfully, it was rescheduled for the spring.

Overall, Odom performance was incredible.

From his vocal performance to his uplifting message to his bright yellow suit, the night was one to remember. I would certainly recommend that anyone who get the chance to see him perform live take the opportunity.

Hurst Hot Take: ‘Hot Ones’

By Emma Coppolo A&E editor

One of my absolute favorite things in this world is spicy food.

I have a hot sauce collection that could rival any restaurant, and I love challenging my palate to see how much heat I can take.

I also love unconventional celebrity interviews, which is why “Hot Ones” is my favorite show.

Hosted by Sean Evans, “Hot Ones” is an interview show where celebrities are challenged to eat ten wings while answering questions.

The wings gradually increase on the Scoville scale, the unit used to measure how spicy something is.

Each wing has a different intended effect, so the palate continues to get more and more sensitive.

Some celebrities remain cool throughout the interview while others chug milk and pace.

The best part of the show is undeniably Sean Evans’ hosting skills. Somehow, he manages to have good chemistry with every guest he interviews.

His interviews are unlike any other due to how in-depth his research is. Evans is famous for having incredibly well-crafted questions that often refer to extremely obscure parts of interviewees’ lives.

There are countless compilations on YouTube of celebrities being shocked by Evans’ quality of questions.

At this point, Evans is a pro and rarely reacts to the wings. However, some episodes get the better of him and he struggles just as much as his guests.

One of my favorite recent episodes has to be Lorde’s.

The Kiwi singer approached the interview with the same calm demeanor that she is known for.

She shockingly remains unphased throughout the interview. She even says things like, “delicious wing” and “delicious lunch.”

She carefully examines the ingredients of the sauces and really enjoys them.

As she savors the most infamous sauce, Evans looks at the camera with bewilderment.

Many fans have made videos comparing her reactions to some of the most severe ones, such as Gordon Ramsay and Shaquille O’Neal.

This is a great episode for the pure shock Evans experiences.

On the complete opposite side, Machine Gun Kelly’s first appearance as one of “Hot Ones’” earliest guests is a classic.

MGK and Evans both have a difficult time handling the heat.

MGK walks away from the ta-

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The Season 17 hot sauce line up for “Hot Ones”.

ble as Evans wipes tears from his eyes.

This is one of the most famous episodes of the show, and MGK is one of the only celebrities to appear on the show on more than one occasion.

“Hot Ones” is an incredibly unique interview style, and First We Feast has marketed it extremely well.

The range of celebrities that appear on the show is absolutely unreal.

Seeing such famous idols cry over wings and struggle to answer questions in the process is absolutely priceless.

I think “Hot Ones” is one of the funniest things that I have ever watched, and every episode has me laughing.

Back to my collection of hot sauces, I was fortunate enough to visit the shop in Brooklyn, called Heatonist, that produces the sauces for “Hot Ones” and ran into a First We Feast employee picking up sauces for the new season.

It was a weirdly surreal experience.

The sauces that I got from Heatonist were so good; I even got one of the First We Feast sauces made specifically for “Hot Ones.”

It is fantastic, and I 100% recommend it if hot sauce is your thing.

“Hot Ones” will have you daring yourself to test your heat tolerance, which is always a fun idea.

If you are especially interested in testing yourself, many fans purchase the sauces and complete the challenge on their own.

Regardless of if you like spicy food or not, the “Hot Ones” community is just good fun.

It is available on Hulu or YouTube, so make sure to check out new episodes like Euphoria’s Jacob Elordi and Spiderman’s Tom Holland.

As Evans says, “stay spicy!”

Choreography II students present a ‘Kaleidoscope’ of original works

By Ashley Barletta News editor

The Choreography II students are currently preparing for their showcase, which is to happen on Saturday, April 2, at 7 p.m. The show is entitled “Kaleidoscope.”

For the showcase, the students each choreographed an inspired piece to present.

“I wanted to do something fun and interesting. Blame it on my just being a tired college student, but I didn’t feel like tackling a big concept so I wanted to see how well I could convey a simpler idea through dance. This led me to decide on the movement and ‘character traits’ of ants,” said sophomore double major in Dance and Integrated Media and Strategic Communication Madeleine Plourde.

Plourde’s piece is titled “Consider the Ants” and the dancers will be dancing in pointe shoes.

She says that the piece includes “many crawling, shuffling movements, like an ant,” and a focus on lines, shapes and formations created by the people in her cast to convey the idea of strength and teamwork.

“It has been fun to see how such a simple idea, like an insect, can inspire such distinct movements and choreography for dancers,” Plourde said.

For Plourde, choreographing the dance and putting all of the pieces together was a challenge.

“It can be hard to not only decide on a concept, but actually translate that idea from my brain into my body,” Plourde said. “I have a vision of what the dance should look like in my head, but turning it into real movements and then having to communicate those ideas to other dancers can be a challenge.”

Plourde sees choreography as a mix of both creativity and trained knowledge. Applying those skills to teach others her choreography for this piece was both fun and a challenge.

Plourde estimates that while the technicality of planning out rhythms, music, and moves, took about a month, her entire creative process from brainstorming to teaching the choreography happened over the entire 10-week semester.

Another Choreography II student, sophomore Dance major and Social Justice minor Mara Isaacson, shared her experience.

“My piece is inspired by Our Lady of Fatima. I chose to do a bit of research on the apparitions and used that research to inspire the structure of my piece, as well as the movement,” Isaacson said.

Isaacson also experienced some difficulties in choreographing her piece.

“Most of my difficulty was experienced in my decision making. I become very indecisive when I have to create a new piece,” Isaacson said.

On the other hand, Isaacson attributes the ease of the process to the four dancers featured in her piece.

“They have been wonderful to work with and made the process of teaching the piece super easy,” Isaacson said. “We also asked the composers of our chosen music for the rights to use their music, and my chosen composer was generous enough to let me use her music.”

The pieces are short, but each choreographer takes time to craft the dance. It also takes a while for the dancers to learn to perfect the choreographer’s vision.

“My piece is just shy of 5 minutes, and my dancers learned all of the choreography in a span of 4 rehearsals that were each an hour and a half long. This process went faster than I had anticipated, so that was a pleasant surprise,” Isaacson said.

Katelyn Turner-Leftwich, a sophomore double major in Dance and Pre-Allied Health Sciences, focused her piece on the metaphor of “going down a rabbit hole.”

“It is about how we get lost in the knowledge and information that surrounds us daily,” Turner-Leftwich said.

She, too, had a few bumps in the road with staying on schedule and making sure she was able to convey what she wanted her dancers to do.

“It took me about 2 months to choreograph everything and give it to my dancers. However, during this process, I already had ideas about what I was going to choreograph for the end,” said Turner-Leftwich.

The Choreography II instructor, Jennifer McNamara, is very excited for her students to present their work.

However, there are some hoops to jump through to make sure that the show can run smoothly.

“The choreographic showcases hosted by the Dance department actually have to be envisioned in a practical sense more than a year in advance,” McNamara said. “With so many performing arts programs on campus and such a rich intellectual life with lectures and other events, we all get together to request and book spaces for events 1-2 years out,” McNamara said.

She is well aware of the limited amount of time the students have to put their pieces together, but she is confident in her students’ abilities.

“One thing I like to do is challenge the students by giving them certain parameters within which to work, whether that’s an overall theme for the concert or assigning a group of dancers to choreograph for or suggesting music, as I did this time,” McNamara said.

She felt especially inspired by the works of women for her students pieces.

“For this particular performance, I started looking for a theme during the fall semester and over winter break, I decided to strongly suggest that the students use music composed by women,” McNamara said. “I found several lists with contemporary female composers and provided that as a jumping off place.”

McNamara is always trying to push her students to do something new but also something that is true to them.

“I hope that it opens new ideas about who they are as dance-makers and what they are capable of creating,” McNamara said.

As stated, this showcase does not happen overnight. The students spend weeks with their pieces from planning and brainstorming to placing movements and costumes.

“The students begin the process on the first day of the semester, when they learn about this assignment,” McNamara said. “This particular project has to be a researched work, in that they have to show some external evidence of inspiration–whether that’s a painting or a book or the idea of curiosity–they have to provide some sources outside their own imagination, that feed their vision throughout the process.”

She hopes that the process of choreographing the pieces gives her students a new perspective as dancers.

“Experiencing that on the other side, not as a dancer but as a dance-maker, is such a powerful, almost sacred moment, the fulfillment of the many, many hours of deep, hard work they’ve put into bringing forth their ideas in such a personal and yet intensely public way,” McNamara said. “Getting to watch that happen is incredibly special.”

McNamara always looks forward to seeing her students experience their own hard work on stage.

“I am most excited about watching the choreographers see their work realized on the stage–there’s something magical that happens in the space and time between the last rehearsal in the studio and the moment the dancers enter the stage for the performance,” McNamara said.

‘Kaleidoscope’ will be held in the Walker Recital Hall in the Audrey Hirt Academic Center and is free for everyone to attend. Be sure to come support the dancers and choreographers in the Mercyhurst Dance Department.

Promotional flyer for the Kaleidoscope performance this April.

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