A night for song, dance and all that jazz

A huge array of groups -- ranging from the Arts House Dance Company to African Rhythms -- sang, danced and acted in front of an enthusiastic, sold-out crowd of students in the Zellerbach Theatre. The performances included acts by well-known campus groups like Pennsylvania 6-5000 and Off the Beat, as well as most of the other troupes on Penn's widely diverse roster of performing arts groups. The Christian a cappella group Full Measure, the African American Arts Alliance, PENNaach -- a South Asian dance group -- and R'nanah, which sang Hebrew songs, were among the different culturally themed groups to entertain the mostly first-year crowd. But while many groups sang songs with cultural meaning, others went for pop culture meaning: Chord on Blues gave a particularly humorous rendition of the Backstreet Boys song "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)." And the Penn Wind Ensemble acted out a dueling light-saber scene from the recent blockbuster Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace, to the tune of the movie's score. During that performance, one of the musicians used his clarinet as a light saber and struck down his female opponent, who used a toy double-sided light saber to defend herself before eventually succumbing. Other groups that performed during the several-hour long night included campus favorite Mask & Wig, Counterparts, Penn Singers, Quaker Notes, Penn Players and Penn Masala. A main goal of the annual event is to attract freshmen to audition for Penn's various performing arts groups. Audience members expressed appreciation for the performance. "I enjoyed the multitude of groups and it was cool that we got to see a taste of what is available on campus," College freshman Jared Watkins said. College freshman Kelechi Nwanyanwu agreed, commenting, "I thought it was a good idea to showcase all of the different groups and what they perform instead of handing out leaflets and flyers." Nwanyanwu added that the show included "something for everyone." African Rhythms, a new group on campus that features African-language singing and dancing to tribal music, was a particularly popular act. "I liked it because I got to see something different than I am used to seeing," College freshman Brittany Fiore said. Though last night's performance was sold out, tickets are still available for tonight's performances.