It truly was a party for the Dance Company’s “It’s Our Party and We’ll Dance If We Want To” 20th anniversary performance this past weekend. Students filled Buckman Theatre Thursday evening eager to see what the Dance Co. had to offer. With colored streamers and flashy outfits, dancers made sure audiences would remember this year’s performance.

Practices began at the beginning of the fall semester as a team, but rehearsal times became more hectic for the dancers with practices from 7 p.m. to midnight the week of the performances.

“We have all been dancing for a good amount of time,” said Jess Pacheco, Dance Co.’s 2007 president. “Everything went very well the first night and we were given a lot of compliments.”

The crowd was excited once the show began as people yelled out the names of the dancers they came to watch.

“I thought the performance was very good. They danced to a lot of great music and the dancing was awesome,” said sophomore Missy Francia.

The performance dealt with a variety of music, showing the Dance Co.’s versatility. There were hip hop songs, including a “Step Up” mix, choreographed by sophomore Dana Palmer and “You Wanna Ride,” choreographed by senior Drew Videira. Contemporary dances were performed to Alanis Morissette’s “Your House,” choreographed by senior Meg Twohig. Well known pop songs such as “Maneater” by Nelly Furtado and “Ain’t No Other Man” by Christina Aguilera were also performed and choreographed by senior Kim Evans and sophomore Bree Vazquez.

Dance Co.’s traditional slideshow began the event, showing how close all of the dancers truly are.

“We have all bonded and we just like to have a good time,” Pacheco said.

The slideshow showed charity events the dance members attended, such as face-painting during Halloween. It also showed group events like tie-dying and other leisure activities with the dancers. The slideshow also had pictures comparing the teams in 1986 and today.

As they ended the performance with the number “It’s Our Party and We’ll Dance If We Want To,” the Dance Company proved that they had a reason to celebrate.