The Jazz and Dance Ensemble Spring Benefit Concert is an annual performance to raise funds for the Crawford County Special Olympics through their performance, raffles and fundraising.
On Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. in the Shafer Auditorium, JaDE along with other organizations such as the Egg Detectives and Orchesis will be performing in the fundraiser.
JaDE President Haley Fabich, ’24, gave an overview of what audiences can expect at the concert. The upcoming concert is going to be the biggest show JaDE has had in the last couple of years, with a total of 16 pieces, According to Fabich.
“There are going to be several dances done by JaDE dancers, a piece we will be performing with Special Olympics athletes, we have four studios coming from off-campus to come to perform with us,” Fabich said.
The four studios that will be in attendance are Oil Region Ballet Company, Allegro Dance Arts, LLC, Sovereign Ballet and Patterson School of Ballet, Inc. according to Fabich.
“We choose the organizations mostly based on interest,” Fabich said. “The only prerequisite is just that they have to be family-friendly just because we try and make this a really good community show people can bring their kids to and get a lot of community engagement and donations.”
Co-Fundraising Chair Beth Ma, ’26, gave insight into the fundraising that has been done prior to the show and how the upcoming concert will be raising funds.
“We always do raffle baskets and I try to leave it up to the organizations that we ask who agree to make a basket,” Ma said. “Some organizations like to do a comfy, cozy sort of thing while other people might choose to do an arts and crafts kit…mostly we request that the value be at least around $20 to $30 and that they set up a pickup time for us before the show.”
Prior to the show, JaDe held a Valentine’s Sale where they sold candy bags, crochet hearts and crochet flowers which allowed them to raise over $500, Ma said. This kind of fundraiser was new; in previous years they had used Penny Wars.
In preparation for the show, JaDE members have practiced twice a week for two hours on Thursdays and Sundays, Ma said.
“So many members are either dancers or choreographers or on the board of Orchesis so we start the day Orchesis ends,” Ma said. “The choreographers are done choreographing and we have finished learning and polishing all the pieces so tech these next few days is going to be important to us in making sure we’re one with all the pieces.”
Financing is a challenge JaDE faced during the process of planning for the event according to Ma.
“I think the only small issue might have been that we weren’t able to get funding from ASG for the raffle baskets because the way we’ve done it in prior years has changed or, from what I understand, it was supposed to be a certain way and just didn’t happen in past years that way,” Ma said. “This year they are really cracking down and just reinforcing certain rules that are meant to be there.”
Performance Chair Jayne Seth, ’26, described the impact she wants the concert to have on the community.
“I hope the audience realizes how much work goes into putting on a show like this through a student-run organization,” Seth said. “And also, that even though life may be difficult or more challenging in different ways for some people, that doesn’t mean that they can’t still enjoy the things as everyone else.”
Fabich said all the pieces are choreographed by members of JaDE and explained the process of gaining piece approval.
“We have people do choreography proposals every year, so we do one in the fall semester for the Cookie’s and Milk performance and we do another proposal for our benefit concert,” Fabich said. “We watch everyone’s proposal and we vote anonymously and whoever’s piece gets chosen, those are the ones that we do.”
In preparation to perform with the Special Olympics athletes, they are asked to practice once a week. There will be five athletes performing with JaDE when in previous years it has been around three, according to Ma.
“We are always trying to showcase a high level of performance and technique from all of our members,” Fabich said. “People are donating and people are coming to the show to support us so we want to make sure that our performance matches what people are donating for.”