There was quiet chatter in Buskirk-Chumley Theatre. Most of the seats on both levels of the theatre were filled. The stage was littered with chairs and instruments, both waiting for their companions. IU’s Latin Jazz Ensemble came onstage to start the show, appropriately titled “Jazz at the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre,” at 7:30 p.m.
“The first thing: whatever's happening on the outside world right now, get that out of your head,” ensemble director Wayne Wallace said before the show. “We’re going to do our best to take your mind off all those troubles and just get you in something like a positive mood.”
Then he and the band began clapping a simple rhythm, and encouraged the audience to join in. When the audience finally got the hang of it, the band started their first piece, after a quick countdown from Wallace.
“I hate just playing music at people, it's like you're going to have a dinner and meal, and as soon as you open the door, you shove food in front of someone,” Wallace said.
They had only been playing for a few minutes when the first duo from the audience ventured to the front of the theatre to make an impromptu dance floor. Another person, community member Seaforth Breeze, joined soon after. The audience cheered for both the brave few dancers and the band.
“It's just one of my favorite things in the world,” Breeze said. “And I, specifically at the very beginning, I was one of the first few people out, specifically because I wanted to get other folks to feel less self-conscious about it.”
As the show went on, more and more people joined the dance floor. Some of them were clearly a bit nervous about their form, staring at their feet more than anything. Others appeared to be salsa experts or at least had the enthusiasm to appear like it. By the end of the ensemble’s second piece, “Now You Know” by Joe Gallardo, the stage could barely be seen through the thick crowd of dancers.
Junior Carissa Yu attended the concert to support her friends in the ensemble. According to Yu, she doesn’t dance — she wiggles. She had planned to come to the concert with friends of hers, but they had arrived late. That didn’t stop her from dancing.
“I actually was dancing by myself for a minute because a lot of people had to come later,” Yu said. "But it's just like, I don't know, like going to a restaurant and eating by yourself is good and well if the food is good, but if you go with friends and then you get to have time together and build community and invest in your relationships.”
Watching the dancers was almost like a game of telephone. Unlike awkward middle and high school dances, people moved however they wanted to without any inhibitions, and when they stopped to look at their dance partner, they weren’t mocked — instead, their partner would imitate their dance move, making it even bigger than it had been.
“There’s a synergy between the audience and musicians that's lacking in, say, classical or even jazz, where they give energy back to you as you give them energy,” Wallace said. “So, if I smile at somebody or dance with somebody, it just creates this wave that goes back and forth.”
Wallace acted as a trusting director, only giving cues to his musicians when necessary. He focused on the audience more than anything and helped lead salsa dances. Even the band members danced when they weren’t actively playing and watched the audience members when they were.
“I love dancing and I love watching,” first-year master’s student Zoe Willingham said. “I feel like I want do both, but I can't, but I was getting a bit distracted, so I had to lock in a little bit.”
Senior bongo player Ethan Choo, who has been in the ensemble for one year, said he has never played a show with the Latin Jazz Ensemble where the audience didn’t dance.
“It's dancing music. It comes from tradition, all the rhythms come from traditional dances,” Choo said.
Audience members would dance down the aisles of the Buskirk-Chumley just to get to the dance floor. Even people who didn’t join the dance floor danced in some way, with some sitting with their eyes closed, clearly enjoying the music, and others on the second level of the theatre, standing up near their seats and swaying.
By the end, the air was noticeably warmer than it had been at the start. The stage couldn’t be seen, and there were more people on the dance floor than in their seats.
