Katie Licari
All Photos by Sadie Hull
On November 19th, the BISFA dance department held their fall recital, displaying the numbers and skills they have learned so far in the school year. There were eighteen performances total, and the performance went on for about an hour and a half. The dancers demonstrated a large variety of talents and types of dances that never left a dull moment in the show.
The first half of the show was dedicated to ballet numbers- which makes sense considering it is an extremely hard and time-consuming dance style to learn. All these numbers were adapted from a larger ballet show, so the dancers had to show deep emotion to connect with the original pieces, and they wore beautiful costumes.
The opening dance was Emeralds performed by the
underclassmen. All on pointe, they demonstrated immense talent for being newer dancers in the department. For those who do not know what pointe is, it is a box in the ballet shoe that the dancers go on their toes for. It requires a lot of balance, practice, and pain to even go on it.
It then moved onto a pas de trois (three people) titled Act I, Scene 2 of Swan Lake. It featured Kylah Ford (12th grade), Kianna Durocher(12th grade), and Nate Ferguson(11th grade), with everyone on pointe besides Nate. They all performed a beautiful trio dance and gave each person a notable spotlight. The one that sticks out most is when Nate soloed several turns at the end.
La Esmeralda Variation had two separate groups performing it, one group at this stage of the performance and the other group before the end of the intermission. This variation is famous for including tambourines which created a fun and lively performance. Each group was on pointe and brought so much life and talent to their dance. This variation is not easy either, it requires a lot of timing and rhythm so the fact they all did so well is impressive.
The Giselle Variation had two separate groups as well and again,both were on pointe. The dancers were graceful with their performance and had exceptionalexecptional turns. This variation requires a lot of balance due to being on pointe and each performer executed it wonderfully.
Act II, Scene 1 of Swan Lake was a solo performance by Manuel Mejias. This dance was story driven and commanded a lot of emotion to be properly executed. Mejias not only exectuted this piece to its fullest extent, the piece also showcased Mejias dedication and spirit.To have an interesting solo performance these are vital, and he brought the performance to life.
Dance of the Little Swans was after and performed by four dancers, you guessed it all on pointe. Amelia Carter(11th grade), Charlotte Elliot(11th grade), McKenna Iseminger(11th grade), and Jenna Lescalleet(11th grade) all in sync. This performance is famously known for the dancers being interlocked by hands and all moving in one swift motion. Not only is the dance hard but one little mistake is very noticeable. These dancers did not have any and they almost looked animated because of how together they were.
They were followed by Dance of the Big Swans which had three dancers. It was performed by Caroline Grubb(11th grade), Amaya Hamilton(12th grade), and Kirsten Herd(12th grade) who were all on pointe. This dance is meant to juxtapose the previous Little Swans by having a more “mature” dance. They all brought this energy and had such a beautiful flow to their dance. Their ending pose was meant to resemble a swan and it was the perfect ending.
Finally, the third to last performance (the final two mentioned above) was a solo performed by Matt Semler(11th grade). At times I thought Semler had wings because of the airtime they had. There were gorgeous leaps and turns during the dance that allowed for a wonderful solo.
After intermission, dancers went into assorted styles that were not ballet, such as tap, jazz, contemporary, and hip-hop. Their contemporary was a mix of three different styles, contemporary, lyrical, and modern.
The first performance after intermission was Dear Jack, choreographed by Keleah Barr and was a contemporary dance. Contemporary relies on strong emotion and skill- something this group did wonderfully. At times I thought they were fully flinging and throwing themselves on the ground with their emotions.
The dancers then moved on to Say Something, choreographed by Andrea Masciocchi and is another contemporary dance. There were a lot of memorable moments in this dance, but they had a canon (dancers move in separate groups, one after another) and had a gorgeous ending. These dancers put their all into this dance and moved me to feel their emotion with them.
Another contemporary dance was featured to the song Checkmate, choreographed by Andrea Masciocchi. This one stuck out because it told a quite different story than the rest. It was the tale of a battle between two distinct groups. Not only did these dancers do well on a technical level but their acting during this was phenomenal.
The next dance also contemporary was Winds of Change, choreographed by Keleah Barr. This dance had a lot of sharp movements and broke out of traditional contemporary moves at times. Each dancer brought their own unique energy to this dance making it a shining star of talent.
Moving away from contemporary dance, there was a jazz performance of Pink Panther, choreographed by Keleah Barr. Jazz relies a lot on sass and every dancer brought that energy and that passion into their preformance. It had more of an old jazz feel called fosse where little movements create a lot of emotion. They also used a hat as a prop which only furthered that sass.
Celloopa was next, which was a tap performance, choreographed by Andrea Masciocchi. Tap is rhythmically bound and requires a lot of attention and focus to the beat. This proved to not be a problem for these dancers as they had a fun and fast-paced performance.
The last contemporary dance of the night was Summer Overture. Choreographed by Mikaela Rodriguez. A lot of dancers particpated this performance, but their ensemble only added to the drama. Everyone was together and brought the intense energy this performance needed.
The final performance of the night is also the same one they performed at Holly Fest. It is titled Holiday Medley and features three different styles of dance to three different winter-themed songs. All three performances were choreographed by the three different teachers mentioned above. There was the tap piece to Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer that included bit of humor to keep the auidence in their toes (no pun intended). Each dancer also matched the rhythm of the song and had a lot of fun with it. Then there was the jazz piece to Diddle Squat, and it was very reminiscent of the famous Rockettes in New York City. They had their famous kick line, which is hard to do, and brought a lot of sass to their performance. Finally, the dancers closed on hip hop to Oh Santa! and the dancers truly came alive to this one. I would not have even guessed they had performed this before because of their energy.
Every dancer was phenomenal, and they all worked together to create cohesive performances. Their teachers are also to thank, who helped teach them or created an entirely new choreography together. At The Phantom we encourage all of our readers to attend these events are truly get a taste of these artist amazing work for themselves. Wonderful job everyone!
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