Dancers come to understand all aspects of putting on a production

For the past few weeks, senior Sophie Ou has been arriving to badminton practice later than usual. One day, she comes into the gym, pulls up her shorts, and reveals the freshly-made slap mark on her legs. As teammates ask what happened, she explains it was from dance rehearsals.  Earlier that day, Ou’s dance group taught her the moves to their group routine and she just finished rehearsing the entire routine for the first time before heading to practice.

Although Ou along with other girls have to juggle extracurricular activities and class expectations, she said she continues dancing because it helps her gain more confidence.

Senior Erica Heyne agrees with Ou. “It helps you grow.”

Heyne said that making mistakes and trying continuously is how she’s grown throughout her four years in the dance class. She said, “It gets really discouraging when you work really hard and you can’t do it, but it’s really encouraging when you finally break through.”

Heyne carries the same optimistic attitude onto the stage whenever the yearly showcase on campus comes up. She said, “You go all out or there’s no point of you being there.”

From May 5 to May 6, the Dance 1-2 and 3-4 classes will once again be showcasing the routines they have learned throughout this year.

When junior Justine Cooper dances, she said, “I feel like I represent myself (and) my teachers.” For her, this showcase not only shows what routines she is doing, but it reflects her and her teacher’s hard work.

The audience may get to witness the excitement and finished product of these students, but what they don’t see is the countless hours of rehearsal and the large amount of teamwork behind it all.

At least one month before the actual showcase, dance teacher Deborah Spector has her classes sign up for the showcase routines and group or solo performances and throughout the month of April, they have designated days for different routine practices.

Cooper said, “It’s difficult to choreograph every girl in it” so the girls usually sign up for the genre they are most comfortable with.

Spector lets the students choose the dance numbers they are interested in but sometimes, she said, “I’ll assign (routines) if I think they can do well.”    Despite having learned the routines throughout the year, Heyne said, “you relearn, get corrected; things change.” Heyne said all the excessive practice will make the show run smoother. “Because you practice so much everything just go smooth.”

Though putting on a show requires a lot of work, the dancers have always been there for each other in terms of emotional support. According to Spector, they need it. “Holding the stage by yourself is pretty hard.” Holding the stage may be hard for first and experienced dancers, but Spector has the most difficult job of incorporating students’ ideas to create a proper dance routine.

“She makes sure we all have a part in it,” Ou said.

With their opinions and getting inspirations from watching dance shows, Spector comes up with brilliant pieces like “Tiger Lily,” which will be one routine performed this May. Spector first saw the routine performed as a “punk piece” but said that it wasn’t how she interpreted it. As a showcase spoiler, she said, “Ours have gothic dolls that come to life.”

The dancers not only perform, but they are part of the backstage helpers.

Cooper said, “We all do our equal part.”