explo events on youtube

There have been many dance crazes throughout history—the Charleston, Twist, Macarrena. Yet those may pale in comparison to the dance phenomenon that swept through St. Mark's campus in the summer of 2006—the Numa. Set to the tune of the '04 Euro chart topping single “dragostea din tei” a Romanian pop song—also known as The Numa Numa song—by the group O-Zone , the Numa is almost a daily ritual at the Junior program, bringing students running to the lower quad at the first beats of the song.

Yet how did the Numa make it all the way from The Republic of Moldova to the bucolic fields of of Southborough, Massachusetts?

Carleton College alumna and staff Becky Craig [Junior Faculty '05-'06, '10] along with Nick Kilburg [Junior Faculty '06-'07], adapted a dance created by a Carleton dance group, based on a YouTube video. The silly dance was performed by a few students during an activity, soon spread in '06 when the entire program also learned it. Suffice to say, with the combination of fun moves, a catchy song, and major staff enthusiasm, it's no wonder why the Numa has become a Junior Program phenomenon. From the first day of staff orientation when it's taught, to the last days of the program, students can't get enough of “Numa, numa iei, numa, numa, iei.”

The Dean's Office at the Junior Program was going for the Gold at the summer '08 Olympic “theme day.” Since it was the last theme day of the year, captain Tim Watson [Junior Faculty '07-present] knew it was clutch time to lead his team to victory in a lunchtime assembly performance—and nothing spells victory like an interpretive synchronized swimming dance. While another deans office member had come up with the idea to make costumes complete with bathing caps, Watson heralded the call to scour the campus for a blue tarp to represent the pool. He also pondered about the perfect song choice. “I flipped through the itunes in our office and thought "Eye of the Tiger" is always a great choice for anything ridiculous.”

Yet could the dean's office come up with the moves to pull this off? Over lunch, the master multi-taskers choreographed their brilliant dance which was soon met with the cheering roar of the the Junior Program crowd in the St. Marks gymnasium. The interpretive synchronized swimming dance ended with Tim's grand finale idea to ride the “elevator”where the entire team pushed imaginary buttons and everyone sunk into the “pool." “I think the whole concept of me coming up with anything was funny because I usually hate being on stage, I am horrible at dancing, and have no idea how to choreograph. Typical day at Explo.”

Last summer, when Intermediate Assembly Coordinator Cora Meginsky [Intermediate Faculty '07-'09] wanted to add another fun staple to the daily line-up—which included “Birthday Dan” and “What's in Cora's Backpack”—she reached back to memories of her previous winter's travels through Israel.

“Our trip leader would give us a "fun fact" about Israel every day over the microphone on the tour bus and one of the other people on the trip created the Fun Fact song,” says Cora. “It became something to look forward to that was more important than the fact being shared.”

After Cora shared the song with Intermediate Faculty Joe Fabal [Intermediate Faculty '06-'09]—who happened to have his Master's degree in Musical Theatre Composition—the duo introduced reworked the lyrics and Joe set some chords to it. While the tune was recorded to be played every day, on certain occasions, Cora and Joe—with guitar in hand—would take to stage for a Fun Fact sing along. Lyrics were printed in that day's Explorer and to supplement the facts Cora found online and in her “Encyclopedia of Useless Information,” students were encouraged to submit their ideas in her collection box.

“Sometimes I would have a student share their fun fact with the rest of the Intermediate Program on stage during community meeting,” says Cora. “We even had contests during main events in which we judged students' Fun Facts on of course, their factuality and fun-ness.”

After hours of practicing their tangos, hiphop moves, harmonies and jams, students in the Senior Program's performing arts classes take to the stage at one of the summer's highlight events—Explopalooza. The much anticipated show is held at the end of each session in Yale's University Theater, a massive space which squeezes in all students at the Program. Everyone is there to cheer on their friends who take to the stage.

High energy group hip hop dances have recently been all the rage, as is shown in this video, where Explo students get their groove on. "The hip hop performances are always the most spirited," says Kyle Geiste [Senior Faculty '07-'09], "The way students relate to hip hop—they exude this confidence. You see students light up that you would never expect to light up—which is always fulfilling."

Kyle also notes that the STOMP! performance—where a group creates a scene and injects rythm into it—is also one of the most sought after. "It's funny, incredibly creative, and theatrical," says Geiste. "It's hard to keep people from clapping—the performance is always surprising."