The power of camaraderie and feelings of family are in full display in this epic reunion spanning generations of SMU EMIX dancers.

Looking back on school days of years past, it’s rarely the hours spent poring over lectures and notes that stick with you in adulthood, but the happier times spent with schoolmates chilling out or discovering one’s passions. One of the greatest sources of this would be in the clubs one joins, where eternal friendships and sometimes even families are formed, bonding over the blood, sweat and tears that go into training and rehearsals for competitions and showcases, and the joy and satisfaction that comes after.

Singapore Management University’s Eurhythmix (SMU EMIX) hip-hop club is one place in particular that has seen generations of students come through its doors over the years, each batch filled with passionate dancers who look back on their varsity days with fondness because of the club. That’s why so many of them still keep in touch with one another even after graduating and becoming working adults, reminiscing on heydays of their youth or still practicing with one another, through the official alumni group Eluminix.

Enter MMRS, probably the biggest and most ambitious Eluminix has put on, that played at Capitol Theatre last Saturday as part of the 2023 SMU Arts Festival. Under the creative direction of Alex Loon, co-founder of Eluminix, MMRS is a full-scale gathering that saw a whopping 115 dancers from across 16 batches come together to put on a showstopping performance. MMRS is a gargantuan effort by the entire team involved, and feels like a true labour of love and passion, every member present and performing because they truly, genuinely want to be there.

Even at the entrance, guests are already greeted by a veritable exhibition that pays homage to batches past, a shrine of memories that displays each batch t-shirt, memorabilia and archival videos of their performances. A photo wall even charts the relationships and couples that blossomed from the club, using coloured string to link students who ended up romantically connected, with plenty of EMIX alumni who married or are engaged to each other, showcasing just how close members become because of the club. All of these memories of course, then play out onstage later on via the carefully-planned choreography and slick numbers.

Once inside the theatre, packed to the brim with a full house of friends, family and of course, other alumni, the atmosphere pulsates with excitement and warmth, every person ready to see Eluminix onstage. Over the course of nine segments, MMRS looks back on the SMU EMIX experience, and traces a student’s life from the initial audition, to competition season, to graduation, growing up and joining the workforce, and of course, the re-entry into dance via Eluminix.

And what a show it is. MMRS doesn’t take itself too seriously, in the sense that they’re willing to poke fun at their own experiences, using a keen sense of physical humour, cheeky references, and pop culture to pepper the show with a light heart. Familiar habits of lazing on the couch and binge-watching Netflix lead to a Fast and Furious-inspired number set to the Teriyaki Boyz’s classic ‘Tokyo Drift’, while a sequence set on the MRT sees sleepy commuters get up and dance to the biggest songs on social media after casually opening up TikTok. It’s all in good fun, and particularly impressive when you consider how many dancers each segment features, bodies moving in unison. Coupled with fantastic themed costumes and dynamic lighting that both produces drama and illuminates each featured dancer, and it makes for a series of scenes that keep audience members completely engaged.

But the driving force of MMRS really lies in the emotional elements that underscore its main narrative. Amidst all the fun moments, there is a clear storyline the show follows, where every key moment in an EMIX member’s life is dramatised and brought out via dance. Pure bliss as white EMIX hoodies descend from the ceiling to welcome successful auditionees, heated dance battles that raise the adrenaline in the room, rage and ennui that characterise the feeling of being restricted by ties and office attire, and first love that makes the heart race. All this energy emerges as explosive, rapid group choreography that features precise movements, each dancer emanating with joy to be onstage performing, as they tell these stories with sincerity and conviction.

Interspersed throughout these performances are video montages of alumni interviews where they share their memories and experiences, with a highlight being interviews with the founding batch and original members from two decades ago. Even with some of them approaching their 40s, young children in tow, there is a youthful, spritely energy to them as they reminisce and talk about the club’s origins, and undeniable swell of pride to have seen what they started grow to the success it is today. Naturally, the founding members also get to perform several numbers themselves, including a sultry burlesque number set to J.Lo’s ‘Let’s Get Loud’ that features complex, elegant fan and chair work, that showcases EMIX’s sheer variety of dance forms explored, and how passion and love for dance has allowed these founding members to still bring out their slick moves, to what felt like some of the loudest cheers and applause of the night.

There is never a dull moment in MMRS, where each successive number is somehow even more impressive and ambitious than the last, leading up to two feature performances that reprise choreography from an international competition in Barcelona and a martial arts-inspired performance that won them top rank in local competition SUPER 24. In each segment, we watch videos of the original performers recalling the blood, sweat and tears that went into each performance, countless hours of rehearsals and sleepless nights practicing, before finally seeing their efforts pay off. As we watch archival footage of the performances, these segue into the performers coming onstage and reprising the choreography in real time before our eyes. It is clear why these numbers were so lauded, with pristine, clean transitions between group movements, and innovative techniques, such as the illusion of levitation as a dancer is lifted by her teammates.

A dance performance like this is demanding on both audience and performers as it requires all to share in the same joy and keep up with the seemingly endless stream of energy from the dancers. Yet with the sheer amount of dedication and love displayed onstage, it’s a show that we wish could carry on further still, just to give these incredible alumni more time in the spotlight. Alas, all good things must come to an end, and just like a graduation, the Eluminix members end off on a note of pure ecstasy, each batch coming out as a group and identified and celebrated, to the tune of My Chemical Romance’s adrenaline-inducing ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’.

Seeing all 115 on them onstage at the same time, all smiles from ear to ear, even as an outsider, it is crystal clear how EMIX has become so much more than an afterschool club. It is a group of like-minded, passionate individuals who came together to become a found family, to train together, joke around together, and really, to forge a lifelong friendship that sees them through graduation, marriage, and everything that comes after. You feel the love from every corner of the theatre, pouring out from the audience for the performers, from the performers for each other, and it feels like home.

MMRS played at Capitol Theatre on 16th September 2023. More information available here, and more information about SMU Eluminix here

SMU Arts Fest 2023: Post runs till 24th September 2023. Full programme and more information available here