On Oct. 25, the Lewis & Clark Dance Collective (LCDC), also known as LC Dance Company, held auditions for their upcoming performance at the Portland Trail Blazers’ Rip City Remix halftime show. The Mossy Log spoke to several members of the group about the process of being selected for this opportunity and their preparation for the performance.
LCDC Communications director Vinca Schaefer ’28 explained how the entertainment representative from Rip City Remix — the NBA G League affiliate for the Portland Trail Blazers — reached out to LCDC during summer break. The representative mentioned how he liked that LCDC is a dance collective, rather than a company and found the community involvement on campus to be inspiring. Because of this, he wanted to give LCDC an opportunity to “publicize” their work.
Before the audition, choreographer Gabriella Russo ’28 expanded on the name change from Dance Company to Dance Collective.
“We’re still trying to change (the title of Lewis and Clark Dance Company) … to the Lewis & Clark Dance Collective because we feel like that’s more inclusive with what we’re trying to do. We’re just trying to connect people. And we want it to be a collective. We want a lot of different people to have different opportunities and dance, because a lot of people really like dance. It’s therapy for a lot of people. And so we just want to try to give as many people that opportunity as we can,” Russo explained. “So, for example, Dance Y … we let as many people as we want in the show. So it’s more of a community thing, and we’re trying to make it more of a community instead of just a company.”
LCDC was contacted to do a halftime show for a Rip City Remix show during their 2025-26 season. After closing auditions, the team is now going through all of the video auditions and picking out the best candidates, indicating the rehearsal process should begin soon. Rehearsals will take place for about four hours a week during the fall and winter, but will become more frequent as the team approaches the show date.
Russo discussed what the audition process looks like from a choreographer’s point of view.
“We want to see how quickly people pick up choreography, but we also want to see how they take in the choreography. So, we have only 20 seconds, but we just want to have people do that and improv in the beginning, so we can see their movement style, and then see how they do what we’ve (choreographed). So, it’s just trying to find people that match (our style),” she said.
When asked about what she was looking for in a good audition, Russo stated that the choreographers were not looking for dancers who picked up the choreography quickly, but rather who had good energy and initiative. Not only did they plan on testing their memorization skills, they also wanted to get an idea of the dancer’s individual style. In order to do this, they had all of the dancers do improv at the beginning and end of the choreography.
“They add their own personality into the choreography, and that’s what we’re looking for more than the technique, part of it, and picking up the choreography,” Russo said.
Because auditions were held during Homecoming and Family Weekend, the turnout was relatively small. Despite this, co-choreographers Kate Franzen ’28 and Russo were happy with how many dancers auditioned.
Franzen mentioned that she thought the auditions went well. She noted that a lot of great dancers showed up and this made for an excellent audition. Everyone seemed to be having fun and the environment felt welcoming.
Russo followed up, describing the energy during the audition.
“Everybody was working hard and was excited to be there, which is really all you can ask for at times. But yeah, definitely exciting to see the talent in the room,” Russo said. “It was good. I think the date for the audition kind of conflicted with other people’s plans. We did get a lot of video audition(s), but even from the video audition, you can still see the excitement. Some people choreographed their own thing just for this audition. So I think that’s cool as well.”
Franzen agreed with Russo’s comment that the video auditions were helpful and said that it was exciting to see the different dances that students submitted to them.
“Yeah, I think video auditions are really nice because it’s a little different in the sense that people are kind of sending in whatever they want, so you really kind of get to see who someone is as a dancer and what their favorite thing to do is,” Franzen said.
Russo then gave her personal take on video auditions.
“I know if I was sending in a video audition, I would do something that’s super my style and super my vibe. So I feel like that’s what we saw,” she said.
The duo also commented on some standout moments in the auditions. Both Russo and Franzen agreed that it was “really cool” at the audition when they began warming up and everyone else followed suit. They noted how this shows initiative and made them confident in the dancers that auditioned.
Additionally, Russo mentioned how she appreciates dancers who are eager to learn.
“(I like) when people ask questions. It shows that they want to learn, and it’s them admitting that they don’t totally know it, but it’s also showing that they want to know it. And so when we were going over (choreography), people would ask a question. I feel like those are the standout moments … It also shows their willingness (to learn) as well. Because everybody’s gonna have a question, but it’s the people that ask the question that stand out,” Russo said.
Performing at an NBA G League game is an incredible opportunity for LCDC. Russo expanded on how this will affect future opportunities for the collective.
“A few years ago, dance wasn’t big at all at the school, and now, all of a sudden, recently, it’s become a bigger thing, and a lot more people are wanting to be involved in it. So, for example, Dance X auditions this year, we had the most amount of people we’ve ever had audition. Everything is just growing, and I think this proves that,” she said.
LCDC will be performing at the Portland Trail Blazers’ Rip City Remix halftime show on March 15, 2026, so mark your calendars and be sure to support the amazing dance scene we have on campus!
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