Bi-Triangle Performance

During intermission, one student, Roger Hercules, commented that “this is the best thing ever.” Such enthusiasm was shared by the many who attended Bi-Triangle Performance’s (BiTriP) show that Friday evening at the Merten’s Theater. A crowd numbering close to 300 of UB students (and quite a few non-UB students) showed up for the very well-advertised event, which was sponsored by Soul Beat, the Japanese Student Association and the Student Government Association.
UB alumnus, Kenichi Ebina, founded UB’s popular break-dancing group, Soul Beat, during his time here at Bridgeport. He has gone on to form Bi-Triangle Performance, along with co-founders Haruki Kai and Atsushi Suzuki, in February 2001. Since then, BiTriP has taken first place for Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater and performed at various community and corporate events. The other members of the group, all boasting impressive backgrounds in dance, include: Noritaka Maeda, Erika Sato, Mari Koda, Yumi Kuroki, Yamaji Yukari, Ayumi Miki, and Megumi Kaneko.
The reception began at seven o’ clock, with chips and drinks, and the actual performance started a few minutes after eight. The first half started with original dances, ranging from hilarious, ethereal, to slightly eccentric, and all extremely creative and expressive. Each dance followed its own rules, separate from the others. One memorable dance, “Two Tom Thumbs Up,” had Kenichi Ebina and Karuki Kai dressed as two clowns in a silly light-hearted bit. Another was “Indus,” which had an Indian theme; the “Worst Ballerina on Moon” made use of black lights with a UFO theme; “Scent of a Thorn” was a colorful dance accompanied by music by the Andalusian Flamenco Song & Dance. A big favorite seemed to be “Robocop 525,” in which Kenichi Ebina adeptly imitated a robot (in one scene, he runs out of batteries).
Soul Beat, now led by Kimitoshi Tanaka, also choreographed and performed their original break-dance. Members/performers were: Kimitoshi Tanaka, Tadayoshi Nakamura, Katsuaki Ikeda, Masanobu Shimahara, Hisanori Suzuki and Takashi Otsuka. This was followed by a finale, “Something special for you,” a special contribution put together by all the members of the company.
Not only were the performances exceptional, but the costumes, lighting and sounds all fell into place to produce a very professional, entertaining performance. Kimitoshi Tanaka, president of both Soul Beat and the Japanese Student Association was very pleased with the turnout and “glad that the SGA was able to sponsor this event.”