Southern Gentlemen join Brown Bag for first collaboration

By Meredith Carey / mbcarey@smu.edu

Amidst the clouds of hairspray, pirouetting dancers, and blasting warm-up music sits seven men dressed in suits.

Sitting quietly in the corner, half of SMU’s only all-male a cappella ensemble, Southern Gentlemen, prepares for its first show in the Meadow’s Brown Bag dance series.

“The group is young, only about five years old, so we’re excited to be in Brown Bag for the first time, “ sophomore Jake Nice said. “Hopefully we can make this a tradition.”

The Southern Gentlemen, who released their first EP “SoGents” in August, have paired with sophomore dancer and choreographer Hattie Haggard to create a dance routine to Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek.”

“I’m trying to develop an aesthetic to my choreography and the song just matched the style I wanted,” Haggard said. “Once you find the song, inspiration to choreograph comes a lot easier.”

The musical group began working on the song, which was originally sung in an autotuned a cappella style, just a week ago.

“We have to be really together as musicians in terms of pitch and rhythm and we have to be in tune with a whole other element: the dancers,” Nice said.

Brown Bag, which runs from Monday, Feb. 25 through Friday, March 1 at lunchtime, features 10 to 15 original, student-choreographed routines. Make sure to check out the Southern Gentlemen and the Meadows Division of Dance students in the Bob Hope Theatre Lobby.