Rice Crew was a bit late to start presenting their annual showcase, “IDOL ROOM,” to a fairly large crowd in May Room on Thursday. The tardiness didn’t faze the audience one bit, considering the cheers throughout the first number: a cover of “IDOL” by BTS.
The group performed to over two-dozen songs, including hits like Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings,” Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend,” Rihanna’s “Rude Boy,” and Black Pink’s “Kill This Love.” Rice Crew’s distinct style shined through with each number, as fast-paced, powerful dance moves ensuring there was never a dull moment.
Rice Crew’s variety dance show was no typical dance recital. Not only were the numbers themselves high-energy, they came in waves, making for a very captivating performance with very little down time.
In between those waves, time for costume changes was filled with other entertainment. The first was an introduction video displaying clips from various K-pop performances and groups, which excited the audience further.
The next wave was followed by a video titled “Whisper Challenge,” where members played a game similar to telephone, but instead of whispering a phrase to the next person, all members were wearing loud headphones. The video had fantastic editing, temporarily turning a dance show into comedy gold with sound effects and meme references.
Another comedic video featured three members of the Yellowjackets. Alongside Rice Crew, they played games in which members had to repeat a phrase in higher or lower pitches as well as a “versus battle,” where both groups tried to out-dance and out-sing each other. Once again, the editing heightened the experience, adding sound effects and XP bars. After the Yellowjackets won the battle, the entire group performed two songs before a brief intermission.
Following intermission, a video titled “Who Is” was screened, where the night’s two emcees, juniors and dancers Kenji Mulhal and Helen Shung, ran around a rehearsal asking members questions like “Which Rice Crew member is most likely to skip rehearsal to get Starbucks?”
Later, five audience members were selected and played a game titled Grill Idol where they had to recall the facts from from the video to win prizes.
The last wave of dancing was preceded by the video, “2x Dance,” where members randomly selected three dances to perform while the song was played at double speed. Impressively, the dancers mostly kept up.
The show certainly went out with an exciting number called “Bang Bang Bang.” After the last number, there was a heartfelt goodbye to senior dancers who were each awarded a small bouquet of flowers.
Perhaps most indicative of the show’s feel was the audience. In addition to the cheering, some members even bringing signs to hold up for friends in the show. They roared with laughter during the videos and gave thunderous applause between dances. Both members of the crew backstage and audience sang and chanted with many of the songs, giving the show a fun concert atmosphere.
