Almost a half-dozen members of the Kalabash Dance Troupe are performing in their first show tonight. So on the last night of rehearsal, the group still needed to iron out a few details.

‘It was just simple stuff that you wouldn’t know unless you were on stage rehearsing,’ said Shahida Muhammad, a freshman computer engineering major who joined Kalabash early last semester. ‘Once we saw that stuff, we just had to fix it up.’

At 7:30 p.m. in Goldstein Auditorium, Kalabash performs its Caribbean-inspired dance show. This year, it’s titled ‘KCS 101: Kalabash Caribbean School,’ and will feature music from Snoop Dogg (‘Drop It Like It’s Hot Remix’), Wyclef Jean (‘MVP Compa’) and 50 Cent (‘Lil’ Bit’), as well as less-known artists like Red Rat and Adventura. Tickets are $3.

Kalabash incorporates elements of reggae, soca, calypso and hip-hop music, among others. In past years, there have even been salsa numbers. This year, Masti, a Southeast Asian dance organization, and Kappa Phi Lamda, an Asian sorority, will contribute to a few dances.

While in past years Kalabash has used general themes like ‘The Remix,’ or ‘Around the Caribbean World in 80 Days,’ this year’s show is presented as a school session, with skits representing different subjects. The program looks like a school notebook.

So far, Kalabash has performed at the Bob Marley Tribute pageant and the Multi-Cultural Dance Show. This is the only show this year the group piloted on its own.

‘It’ll be mostly the same, except we’ll get to expand on everything,’ said Anwar Nasir, coordinator of the event and the only male dancer. ‘For our other shows, we could only do one dance usually. Here, we’ll be able to spread things out.’

For some, though, it’ll be their first performance with Kalabash. And a few nerves showed.

Scheduled to practice in Goldstein Auditorium from 7 to 10 p.m. Monday night, Kalabash members stayed until 11:30 p.m., fixing up finer points.

‘They sort of kicked us outta here (Monday night),’ Nasir said.

‘As we were cleaning up the place, they kicked off the lights,’ said Tanisha Buddle, a freshman pre-med major. She’s one of the first-time performers.

As the dancers tweaked their routines for the final time last night, the group looked a bit raw. Some people stepped out of order or started a new move too quickly.

‘If you mess up tonight,’ Nasir told the performers, ‘just keep dancing.’

Since the show is scheduled four days after Spring Break ended, the performers took a week off, without practicing together, right before the show. So Kalabash practiced each of the last two nights to reestablish their routine.

And with so many first-time performers, the practices are clearly significant.

‘Personally, I’m not really that nervous,’ said Buddle, who has performed in front of audiences before. ‘But I know people who are.

‘There’s some people who just don’t want to come up to the front (of the stage). They stay in the back because they’re nervous they’ll mess up, which is understandable.’

They did, a few times. But the steps looked about smooth enough for performance night.

Published on March 23, 2005 at 12:00 pm