Senior Andre Williams leads auditions for his new dance
company, Company Unspoken. TYLER MURPHY / THE DEPAUW
Company Unspoken, a dance company spear-headed by senior André Williams, took flight this past week and rehearsals are already underway. Williams has been dancing since he was little, but it wasn’t until six years ago that he decided to take his dancing to the next level.
After taking the plunge into the world of serious dancing, he hasn’t stopped raising the bar for his skills as well as his ambitions. Upon moving to Greencastle to attend DePauw, Williams decided to take on a leadership role in the community.
He ran a few programs here and there but he took on his first big feat, teaching color guard to the students of North Putnam High School for two years. He was in charge of a dance company titled “Excel” last year, but it didn’t fulfill all of his hopes as he had thought.
In Jan. of this year he began throwing around the concept of creating his own dance company here at DePauw.
“André first approached me last semester because I was auditioning for ‘A Comedy of Errors’ and he was hosting the audition,” said sophomore Hayden DeBruler. “He said ‘You’re in ballet, right? You should join my company once it gets off the ground.'"
With preparations made and plans finalized, Company Unspoken began its official rehearsal this past Saturday after hosting auditions last week.
“For the auditions I got help from a close friend Drew Thomas,” Williams said. “He will be coming back a few times here and there to help out with the company.”
At auditions, Thomas’ job was to cut the people whom he considered unfit for Company Unspoken. In the end, however, the only people cut were the ones whose schedules didn’t align with the vigorous rehearsals.
“We had to let three people go because of their schedules and time restraints,” Williams said. “We ended up taking 18 cast members and five training members.”
Williams was hoping for a bigger turnout, but he was satisfied with those who auditioned.
“We were expecting more people, but I’m really happy with the people who did show up,” Williams said. “They came because they wanted an experience and that’s what we gave them.”
“I was really surprised with the amount of dancers that were there,” DeBruler said. She was also surprised at the amount of first-years who were in attendance.
Senior Andre Williams leaps during
auditions for Company Unspoken.
TYLER MURPHY / THE DEPAUW
While nerve-racking, Williams created an energetic and entertaining atmosphere for auditions.
“I thought they were fun,” DeBruler said, “and he put together cool choreography for them.”
Others were scared to get back into dance, as DePauw hasn’t had anything quite like this program in quite some time.
“I was extremely nervous, “ said sophomore Crystal Lopez-Trueblood. “I hadn’t danced in a while.”
While a few of the new members are already trained in dance, many have a lot to learn.
“We are willing to work with all people,” Williams said. “Actually one of our cast members is just now starting out.”
“I’ve never been trained technically but I did color guard all throughout high school,” Lopez-Trueblood said, “There is definitely a big dance part incorporated in color guard.”
DeBruler danced from a young age until she was 13. “I took ballet last year and decided that I missed dance,” DeBruler said.
One of the aspects she missed was the workout that rehearsals hold in store for those participating.
“I would definitely say the rehearsals are a workout,” DeBruler said. “I have bruises on both knees and both elbows after rehearsals.”
DeBruler, being a part of the training program, has rehearsals on Saturdays from five until eight, while members of the actual company rehearse three times per week.
“It’s definitely not hard to fit into our schedules,” DeBruler said. “He set up the schedules based on when everyone was free so it fits my schedule perfectly.”
“It’s hard because I work three days a week,” Lopez-Trueblood said, “but it’s manageable.”
Once things get to rolling and rehearsals become more static, Williams has plans to only hold them twice a week.
It isn’t just hard to fit rehearsals in with dance students’ schedules, but also the teacher’s.
While Williams is a dance instructor by day, he is also a bartender by night, working into the early morning hours of The Swizzle Stick located in the square.
In fact, as his interview was being conducted, Williams was changing from his dancing attire to his work uniform.
“I’m a busy man,” Williams said.
As far as Company Unspoken goes, shows are already being planned.
“We already have shows scheduled,” Williams said. “There is going to be one each month for the rest of the semester.”
The venue of these shows is yet to be determined.
The plan is to take a handful of his best dancers and have them perform in these early showings, and then eventually add in more as their skills increase. At the end of the semester there will be one to showcase all of the dancers as well as those in the training program.
“Not many professional dancers come to DePauw, but they are in this company to learn how to be professional,” DeBruler said. “Ultimately, I am there for the
Dancers audition for Compnay Unspoken, a new dance group
created by senior Andre Williams. TYLER MURPHY / THE DEPAUW
community, but the ability to transform students with no experience into professional dancers says a lot about André’s abilities as a teacher.”
Williams also has bigger plans for the spring semester.
“We have a few more professionals in the spring coming in from Chicago and Texas to help out,” Williams said. “As well as the help from Drew.”
While Williams is excited about the incoming help, it seems students are more excited for the expertise they can gain from him.
“He has very inventive, off-the-cuff choreography and good energy,” DeBruler said. “It makes it really great when you talk about four hours of straight dancing.”
Said Lopez-Trueblood, “I’m really excited to expand my knowledge of dancing and to have a creative outlet again."