Minutes before they were to go onstage, the Couture Dolls blotted pink lipstick, hair-sprayed loose curls into place and made some last-minute changes to their dances.

‘Let’s go over this move again,’ said Crashonda McClaren, the dance troupe’s co-coordinator. ‘Start with your left foot, OK? Five, six, seven, eight.’

The group’s 17 female dancers performed their show ‘Doll Domination’ to a rowdy crowd of about 250 students on Wednesday evening in Goldstein Auditorium. This is the group’s second year performing. Another Syracuse University group, Creations Dance Company, shared the stage with the Couture Dolls for one dance number.

Through voiceovers and powerful dance routines, ‘Doll Domination’ told the fictional story of a group of high school girls at Heelside High School transitioning into college life. Each dance began with a prerecorded dialogue of the dancers acting out a scene in the story. A choreographed dance followed, filled with lyrics and movements mimicking the plot.

‘My favorite part of performing is becoming someone different onstage,’ McClaren said. ‘Just becoming a different person through the music, through the movements, that’s my favorite part.’

The story is similar to the chick flick ‘Mean Girls,’ described McClaren, a sophomore marketing and retail management major. In ‘Doll Domination,’ the mean girls bullied the losers in high school, winning the boys and the homecoming crown. But when college rolled around, the head mean girl realized she needed help from her old high school enemies to overcome her eating disorder.

‘Us ‘Dolls’ have to stick together if we’re going to rule the world,’ said a dancer onstage. It was the final line in the show, prompting the last dance.

Shayanna Sims, a sophomore information technology major, said the troupe was excited to perform what it worked on all semester. The group was also nervous because of the dance troupe’s signature statement of performing in high heels, she said. Backstage before the show, she said she hadn’t fallen yet and quickly knocked on wood after admitting it.

The audience cheered loudly when the dancers took the stage, strutting in their leotards and heels while flipping their hair. McClaren said dancing in heels makes the Couture Dolls’ dance group stand out from the rest. The dancers practice in them every rehearsal to make sure the shoes are broken in and comfortable. No kitten heels are allowed.

‘It’s a minimum of three inches. No cheating,’ McClaren said.

Shanelle Drakeford, a sophomore writing major, joined the Couture Dolls during her freshman year. Compared to last year’s show, she said this time the group had a wider variety of talented dancers. The members have backgrounds in ballet, modern and hip-hop dance, but there are also dancers with no technical training.

‘I would call it cabaret mixed with hip-hop with a little modern and ballet undertones,’ Drakeford said of the group’s signature dance style. ‘There’s some technique, but it’s definitely not based on that. It’s really fun and girly. The whole cabaret thing comes in with our theatrics and our heels.’

Kicking their high heels and swinging their hips, the girls took the stage by storm, dancing to songs by Beyonce and Jessie J. They received the loudest reaction from the audience whenever they strutted in their stilettos, living up to their reputation.

Audience member Cineve Gibbons, a junior finance and information technology dual major, said she thinks the Couture Dolls have improved greatly and grown technically since last year’s show. Her friend Maxine Delva agreed.

‘I know I couldn’t do half of the things those girls were doing in heels, so kudos to them,’ said Delva, a freshman retail management and marketing dual major. ‘I really enjoyed it.’

After the show ended, Drakeford smiled backstage as she tried to catch her breath from dancing.

‘When you’re backstage, it’s kind of hard to know how well everything is going, but from what I’ve heard, it was really good,’ she said. ‘I’m proud of my girls.’

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Published on April 4, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Kristin: klross01@syr.edu | @kriskross22