Friday night was one of those nights that will be hard to forget. A spectacular performance, good friends, dessert, and a surprise appearance = sheer bliss.

Hook ‘em Arts reached out to UT students for this special evening. We contacted various student organizations to join us for the night. We worked with the Box Office to have a group of us sit together, and then we planned a post-show talk back. The discussion was facilitated by ArtesAmericas Director Joe Randel. We even had complimentary coffee and flan (inspired by the company’s home country – Brazil).

The idea behind the event is a hope to bring together students with similar interests who might not normally come out to see a show. Maybe they don’t want to go alone, so we decided to sit in a group! We hope that if someone is debating whether to come or not, they will not be deterred by the fact that they can’t wrangle a friend to join. Group seating can alleviate that fear of experiencing a performance alone.

In the end, we had nearly 30 students sitting in our group and even more stayed after the show for the talk back. Joe surprised us all after giving a brief introduction on the company. He brought the choreographer, technical director, and three dancers to speak with us! Everyone sat on the edge of their seats, eager to hear the responses.

All five of them were really jovial and very kind to take the time out after such an intense performance. The second piece Breu was really powerful, and Rodrigo Pederneiras, the choreographer, explained the inspiration for the piece. According to him, it is about violence; the everyday violence we all go through, and how we must balance on the fine line between love and hate (as exemplified in an eerily beautiful, and passionately forced embrace by a couple).

All together, it was a huge success, and Hook ‘em Arts hopes to host more events like this in the future.

Until then,

Maggie B.