Family and friends gathered in Florida A&M University’s Gaither Gym Saturday night to enjoy various dance organizations at United We Dance.
UWD is an event where all dance organizations on FAMU’s campus, along with outside dance troupes at Florida State University, Bethune-Cookman University and other schools come to perform on one stage.
The show started with the FSU Golden Girls’ performance to Beyonce’s “Dangerously In Love.” The dancers filled the crowd with emotion; people were singing along and cheering the dancers on. During their performance, the back drop fell but the Golden Girls kept dancing.
In the beginning, the audience seemed excited for the show but as the night progressed the high-energy began to fizzle out due to seating arrangements. The ground seats were first-come first-serve but only for members of dance organizations, meaning that the rest of the audience had to sit in the bleachers and at an angle to get a glimpse of the show.
The event left some unsatisfied since members of the audience would not stay in their seats causing a lot of individuals to not see the full show. DJ Loosekid gave an announcement several times, but he was not effective. It came to a point where people were yelling “sit down” to those who were standing up.
A Twitter user who attended the event used the hashtag uwd2k23 to express solutions they believed could solve the problem for the next time.
“I’m not going to lie, next show the stage needs to be elevated,” the user wrote. “Ain’t no way we all paid but can’t nobody see. SIT DOWN.”
Jazlynn Pittman, an audience member who traveled to see the show, says though she had a good time she wishes changes were made to make her experience better.
“I felt like I could have enjoyed it better if people knew how to take a seat and the people in charge knew how to enforce rules,” Pittman said. “Overall, I really did enjoy the experience of the show, it was good vibes all around.”
The show was not all bad. The organizations brought what they could to the table regardless of who may or may not have seen. For example, FAMU Elite Dance Squad had the crowd soaring with cheers; they certainly brought the audience back to life.
Alana Masslieno, a member of Elite, said the crowd gave her the energy she needed.
“When they called our name we heard the audience screaming for us and that made us so excited,” Masslieno said. “I got my energy from the audience. I seen they were enjoying it and that motivated me.”
It’s not clear if UWD did any uniting. However, the show was enjoyable and the dancers performed tirelessly.