Spring show highlights hits through the decades
By Richard Andrews · Contributing Writer
Spring is in the air, and accompanying the warm weather and sunshine is the 2026 Orchesis spring show!
This year, Orchesis is kicked off the events of Family Weekend, with the first of three shows taking place yesterday.
This semester’s Orchesis theme is “On the Radio,” with the songs for each performance highlighting a different era in music from the decades of the past century.
While the goal of this theme is largely to highlight cultural shifts across time and help celebrate the college’s 150th anniversary, student performers are more focused on the enjoyment they get from dancing to these songs.
“Traveling through the decades has been really neat, and … you just get a really good soundtrack overall. (There’s) super good music to look forward to,” senior Abigail Helsel said.
Each year, Spring Orchesis also serves as a final bow-out for our seniors, many of whom have been performing in Orchesis for most, if not all, of their college career.
“It’s been a special experience. I think the most important thing is there’s this overwhelming sense of gratitude that I’ve gotten to be a part of this whatsoever … to pour myself into this for eight semesters now. I’ve never known Grove City without Orchesis,” said Helsel, who has done Orchesis “eight out of eight semesters” of her time at Grove City, following in her mother’s footsteps.
Another senior, John Remaniak, describes the feeling as “bittersweet,” with an emphasis on cherishing his last moments in the program.
Helsel’s message younger members of Orchesis is to “Put your heart and soul into it. Don’t worry about being perfect, but … just soak up every minute. Love all the people around you, take care of them well, love and serve those in the company with you.”
“Cherish being able to do this in college, cause it’s really, really hard to find stuff (like this) outside of it … it’s really hard to find that outside of the college atmosphere. Just have fun being in the moment. It’s not something you get to have a lot of. So just be there,” Remaniak added.
While the seniors say their goodbyes to Orchesis, there are several people who are performing for the first time this semester. One such individual is sophomore Sawyer Ames.
“I wasn’t really planning to do it, but the guys’ dance also looked really fun, and so I went to their audition … and I got into that one,” he said.
Behind the scenes, there is also an entire team running the technology for the show. Everything from lighting, to audio, to broadcasting is handled by Media Services, who have been working tirelessly in preparation.
Sophomore Brady Larkin is primarily handling the lighting.
He shared that he is excited about how the unique ideas for each dance, with the different choreographies working together, allow the dancers to use their God-given talents in this way, especially with this being the last time that the seniors get to do so.
Orchesis will take the stage twice more, tonight 8 p.m. and tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. in the Physical Learning Center Arena.
