But it's the pelvic thrust that really drives you insa-a-a-ane

STEPHANIE CHU/YH Rhythmic Blue's dancers vivrant over things

What could be a better start to your weekend than watching 90 minutes of hip-hop acrobatics, girlie energy, and synchronized gyrations to the tunes of Michael Jackson, Donna Summer, and Britney Spears? Look no further than Vivrant Thing, Rhythmic Blue's fall performance. Rhythmic Blue is hip-hop and jazz's contribution to Yale's dance scene, and its fall show offers a high-energy, theatrical series of pieces that would put the Laker Girls and Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders—not to mention more serious jazz or hip-hop dancers—to shame.

The numbers vary from campy performances such as "Cereal Killer," a slick Mod Squad goes hip-hop number (complete with toy guns as props), to the more serious and bizarre "Regret," which features lighting, costumes and choreography that contribute to a starkly ominous effect similar to a live-action game of Mortal Kombat with black spandex and sex appeal. Most performances, however, are consistent with the style of "Baby One More Time," an homage to Britney Spears and unleashed parochial-school sexual rebellion.

Rhythmic Blue dancers above all are fun to watch. The energy and attitude—not to mention the pelvic propulsions—the dancers exude often obscures the fact that many of their numbers are in fact more technically demanding and require more balance, control, and precision than they appear to. Interspersed with plenty of body rolls and bouncy mock-kickboxing moves are fairly complex lifts, acrobatics, and combinations that require speedy maneuvering and transitions from ground to air (and from horizontal to vertical and everything in-between) at an accelerated pace.

Though their talent is somewhat uneven, their execution is not always refined or perfectly timed, and the choreography relies heavily on combinations performed simultaneously by all the dancers at once with little movement or interaction, this hardly distracts from the overall experience. The group's strength is its ability to interact with and perform to the audience—inviting with their bodies, spreading contagious energy, and conveying a combination of aggression, spunk and suggestive sensuality in all their numbers. If the University's dance program (or lack thereof) fails to provide them with further options after Yale, these dancers could go on the road as a great backup act to any pop star's stadium tour.

Back to A&E...