For three nights between April 24 and 26, the dance department presented Dancetra, its annual final show of the year. With 37 dance pieces by student dancers of all skill levels between Beginning Dance and Dance Company and open call participants, it served as the culmination for a year of work in dance.
Among the almost one hundred performers, this show would be the last for the department’s graduating seniors. While graduating is cause for celebration, the show was a bittersweet moment for the students who called the Neher Auditorium home for as many as four years. Even for students who will not be graduating, Dancetra would still mark the last time they would perform with some of their classmates. In spite of these high emotions, students still performed at their best. “It’s the last show of my entire dance career and it felt like the last show is the best show,” Dance Company co-captain Anni Zhao, 12, said.
This year’s edition of Dancetra saw the return of Dancing with the Teachers, a competition with duets featuring one teacher and one student unique to opening night. Ms. Murphy competed for the first time, with Ms. Park and Mr. Hollinger returning from last year’s contest. Ms. Park and Emily Xue, 11, were voted best by the audience.
Along with the usual K-pop and hip hop open calls featured during Dancetra every year, which students can join regardless of enrollment in dance classes, this show also saw the debut of a ballet open call that featured five students selected by audition. “I think it was very interesting and I had a lot of fun, especially since I haven’t performed in a while,” Shannon Tsai, 11, said.
These open call performers from outside of the dance department were also tasked with serving as stagehands while not performing, another first for this year’s dance show as a result of limited interest from students in being stage crew. In this role, students set colored lighting gels and managed props backstage. “It was fun and very stressful, but I got to cheer from the sidelines,” Tsai said.
