Icarus Contemporary Dance Company is flying closer to the sun with a joyful vision for the group’s Spring Sing performance.

The contemporary dance group is part of the lineup for Friday’s campuswide talent competition for the fourth year in a row and will return to Los Angeles Tennis Center’s stage after last year’s Spring Sing was moved online. Fourth-year physiological science student Cate Kelly is one of the choreographers for this year’s routine and said the group has taken its choreography in a different direction.

“Our Spring Sing dance this year is a bit out of what you would expect from Icarus in the past,” Kelly said. “In Spring Sing, we’ve done a lot of powerful, emotional contemporary pieces, but this year we’re coming with a jazz, funk, hip-hop fusion. Super upbeat, super powerful, uplifting and just fun. I love it.”

Kelly said she began dancing at age three and delved into contemporary, jazz and lyrical styles throughout her dance career before becoming a Bruin. She said her passion for the activity is reinforced by its athletic, emotional and artistic qualities, and that dance has also taught her about discipline and handling criticism. Upon arriving at UCLA, Kelly said she wanted to continue dancing and joined Icarus Contemporary because it was the first contemporary dance group that popped up in a Google search.

“I’m so glad that that accidentally happened to be how I found a place to dance here because Icarus has shaped my college experience,” Kelly said. “It’s made it better. It has given me the space to do what I love in a place with people that I love.”

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Despite choreographing dances for Icarus Contemporary each of the past four years, Kelly said this is her first time preparing the team’s set for Spring Sing and directing a jazz routine. Kelly said collaborating with another choreographer, senior Aliza Workman, allowed her to jump into the project with excitement and to craft a piece with the team in mind rather than a personal statement. The intended vibe for the piece is fun and party-like, Kelly said, with the routine to be soundtracked by a medley of songs including Sean Paul’s “Temperature,” Bryson Tiller’s “Whatever She Wants” and Cobra Starship’s “You Make Me Feel…” featuring Sabi.

Team president Melody Jiang said Friday’s dancers will wear pink and black costumes that include vests and basketball shorts to complement this series of songs, capturing both the hip-hop vibe and feminine energy the performance aims to deliver. Audience engagement will be another important element of the performance, as the fellow fourth-year physiological science student said some of the dancers will go out into the crowd during the group’s set. Kelly added that tricks such as turns, leaps, flips and jumps have been incorporated.

“I wanted it to feel like they’re – the audience – is partying with us,” Kelly said. “I want them to feel like they have a great time watching us, and they’re feeling our excitement to perform and share what we love.”

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Brianna Gianetto, a third-year biochemistry student and the group’s director of outreach, said she also began dancing at age three but has a background primarily rooted in ballet. To get ready for Friday’s performance, Gianetto said the group has been meeting for rehearsals three days a week. One of the challenges she said the team faced was balancing preparations for its year-end showcase – which took place at Royce Hall on May 10 – with refining the Spring Sing routine. Jiang added that ongoing renovations at the John Wooden Center have made it more challenging for the group to find a consistent practice space, especially for 90-minute rehearsals.

Jiang said she is grateful to the Student Alumni Association that hosts Spring Sing for selecting Icarus Contemporary for the event’s lineup for four consecutive years, an opportunity that most dance teams do not have. In her second year as the group’s president, she said opportunities have also increased for Icarus Contemporary dancers to apply to choreograph routines, a role previously restricted only to students in leadership positions.

After four years with Icarus Contemporary, Kelly said it is bittersweet and emotional to have reached her final performance with the team. Spring Sing is the last big Icarus Contemporary performance for almost half of the team, Gianetto said, as about 10 of the 24 members will graduate next month. Kelly said she is proud of how the dancers on the team have turned choreography ideas into beautiful movements, and her sadness is tempered by the fact that her final performance will be at Spring Sing, which she said is quintessential to the UCLA experience.

“Spring Sing, they are committed to showcasing a variety of groups on campus, so it really is every year that we get in it, it’s great. But then next year, what are we bringing that’s different?” Kelly said. “I hope that people remember that we can bring it. Every year we get better.”