Mance Co., short for Men’s Dance Company, is a group of about forty guys who enjoy dancing with their friends during their free time. The next Mance co performance will be during the May Dance Concert for Mrs. Terrell’s classes.   Brigham Tuatagaloa, the president of Mance Co, said that the purpose behind Mance Co. was, “…to have fun and dance around with friends. It takes the stress off your shoulders from the school day.” Despite the fact that they don’t get to perform very often, the fun that they have during their practices and the friendship that they share translates to their audiences. In a survey of 200 students here at Bingham, 86 percent of students said that they loved Mance Co., due to the fun aura that the guys bring with them when they dance on stage.

Mance Co. is its own individual organization, but it has worked with Dance Company in the past, as Mrs. Terrell, the dance teacher, is the teacher in charge of both organizations. If you attended the True Blue All Day Assembly, you may remember the show that both Dance Co. and Mance Co. put on for the school. Mance Co. does at least one dance for True Blue about every year since they first started a few years ago. Recently, Manco Co. also performed for the Spirit Week assembly, performing to High School Musical songs. Tuatagaloa said, “Before a performance we’re only given about three days to practice. The guys are pretty fast learners though, so it’s all right.” Despite the fact that they aren’t given many days to practice, each of their performances go off without a hitch every time. They practice for about an hour after school every day up until performance day.

Xander Beagley said that his favorite part of Mance Co. was “You feel like you belong, which is what I think a lot of people need. We’re all friends on Mance Co. and that makes it really fun.” Showing that there really is a friendly aura to the guys of Mance Co. Beagley said that his own personal goal for Mance Co. was, “I want to have a fun time… and I want to make everyone feel included. It helps people to feel better about themselves and the things they’re doing in high school.”

They have a lot of fun with the group because, as Tuatagaloa said, “It’s kind of a comedic type of dancing, it’s not too serious. So I feel like the fun aspect is there.” And if that fun aspect continues throughout the many years that Mance Co. will continue to exist and perform, I’m almost certain that Mance Co. will only continue to grow in its popularity and in the amount of people that join the group. They will be having more people join next year during their sign ups would be at their first performance at the Powderpuff Game and right before Christmas at the beginning of the next year.