Every fall semester, Kappa Phi Lambda Sorority, Inc. hosts the Inspired Show; this year it was on Saturday, November 11th from 4-6 PM at the Ross Robertson Auditorium. On Instagram (@umichkpl), the sorority said this event “seeks to showcase a variety of cultural performances, mixing modern and traditional elements to bring Michigan exposure to various Asian performing arts,” which it certainly did.
There were 8 performances. In order they were:
Female Gayo (@femalegayo)
Photonix (@umphotonix)
Kappa Phi Lambda Sorority, Inc. (@umichkpl)
DB3 (@db3_umich)
Seoul Juice (@seouljuice.umich)
VeryUs (@veryus.umich)
Revolution (@revolutionyoyo)
Moli (@moli.umich)
K-Motion (@kmotion)
I’ve watched and reviewed the majority of these groups before, many of which performed at Celebrasia. However, although the Inspired Show was only a week later, Female Gayo had a completely new set that ended with an original choreography they made to the song Money by Lisa from Blackpink and had the fun addition of shooting dollar bills into the air at the end.
Photonix is a crowd favorite and I wish I got to see more of them. They use glow-in-the-dark items to create rhythmic visual art by manipulating neon lights to music in pitch blackness. Much of the choreography involves teamwork, which is super impressive since the team must work together without being able to see. My favorite parts are when they hit the floor to change colors on a beat drop. Unfortunately, I couldn’t capture their performance well enough on camera, so take the chance to see them in person if you can!
I saw the sisters of Kappa Phi Lambda perform at the Yardshow, but they prepared two additional choreographies for their event: hip-hop and cultural. Their cultural dance is pictured above and it was the highlight of the show for me. Many groups use fans or umbrellas as props, but it was the first time I’ve seen the beautiful white and red long sleeves they wore. In addition, the music they used was purely instrumental, which was a nice contrast to the other music throughout the show. It truly felt like a cultural dance rather than a dance that just uses cultural props.
The Ross Robertson Auditorium is a nice venue; the only thing I wish is that the lighting had a spotlight on the stage to give it a more immersive atmosphere. Nevertheless, it was nice being in a new and comfortable environment.
Although there are a lot of parallels to Celebrasia, I recommend attending the Inspired Show. It’s a good opportunity to see different performers, such as Photonix and Moli, and new choreographies like Female Gayo’s. All proceeds are donated to the Ann Arbor Community Center, so you can make a difference and have fun at the same time.
