Nguyễn Thủy Tiên
The Phantom is excited to introduce the Dance Department and what their plans are for 2022’s Holiday Spectacular! On December 7th, I sat down with Senior dancers Amaya Hamilton, Amy Rivera, Jael Osongo, Kirsten Herd, and Kylah Ford. Although the show nights are not until December 21st and 22nd, we couldn’t wait to hear what’s in the works. Without further ado, here’s a sneak peek into this year’s Holiday Spectacular:
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Tien Nguyen: Hi, everyone! Today, I am here with the Senior Dancers. Do we wanna go around in a circle and say our names?
Jael Osongo: Hi, I’m Jael.
Kirsten Herd: I’m Kirsten!
Amaya Hamilton: I’m Amaya.
Amy Rivera: Hi, I’m Amy!
Kylah Ford: Hi, I’m Kylah.
Tien Nguyen: And today, we’re going to talk all about the Dance Department’s involvement in the Holiday Spectacular. So, to start off, what are the Senior performances this year?
Amaya Hamilton: Okay, so, we do the Creative Writing collaborative — (to Tien) you already know about this because you’re writing the poem! We assign different Seniors to different stanzas, and then we choreograph it, put it all together, put the transitions in. Yeah, so that’s the Senior thing. That’s actually the only just Senior thing.
Kirsten Herd: That’s the only Senior thing in the Holiday Spectacular. And then, obviously, we have our Senior Showcase in the spring, which we haven’t started working on… and then, we’re just a part of the Junior Showcase and the Spring Ballet — but that’s a whole department thing.
Tien Nguyen: Okay! You already talked about the process of the Dancer-Writer poem, but how is that gonna look on stage? Is choreographing poetry any different from choreographing song lyrics?
Jael Osongo: Well, we try to think of the words that are in the stanzas, and how we can express it through movement. So, like, there are parts in the stanzas that talk about children and siblings being together, so maybe we’ll have, like, three people doing something more loving and hugging through movement. We just try to express it in different ways so people can understand.
Tien Nguyen: Very cute! We’ll move onto the rest of the department and their involvement. So, you mentioned the Junior Showcase. Is that also part of Holiday Spec or that another…
Amaya Hamilton: No, that’s just part of our whole list of shows that we have. And that’s in the Spring.
Tien Nguyen: Oh! Then we discuss that later in the year, just so we can keep on track with the Holiday Spec stuff. You guys always do the Medley?
All: Yeah.
Kirsten Herd: Amy, would you like to speak? It’s the jazz, hip-hop…
Amaya Hamilton: Oh, wait! Just kidding, you’re talking about the Holly Fest Medley.
Tien Nguyen: Oh! Was that not…
Jael Osongo: That was Holly Fest. But it’s okay!
Amaya Hamilton: We’re doing it in the Holiday Spectacular, but like, we also did it at Holly Fest.
Kirsten Herd: I think they do call it the Medley in the program.
Jael Osongo: Oh, and we have the aisle dance, too!
Amaya Hamilton: We don’t have to talk about that.
Tien Nguyen: What I remember from past years is that the Medley is a variety of dances and music and different styles, so can you guys, like, speak to what’s going to be on stage?
Amy Rivera: We do a combination of tap, jazz, and hip-hop in the end. Then, we all merge together in the end.
Kirsten Herd: And it’s taught by different choreographers. Each genre is by a different person. Our guest choreographer is usually for hip-hop. We had Mikaela this year. Mikaela Gift.
Amaya Hamilton: And we had Barr. Barr taught tap and Masiocchi taught jazz. But on top of that, we do the aisle dance, which is like… I don’t wanna call it ballet, but we wear ballet shoes. It’s like a pilgrim kinda dance. We do a little jig. And then, we also have the jazz piece, which is where all four classes get together, jazz it up, and that’s it.
Tien Nguyen: Is the aisle dance the one where you guys have candlesticks?
All: Yeah.
Jael Osongo: We do it every single year, same formation.
Kirsten Herd: It’s actually changed. This year, it’s a sailor song.
Tien Nguyen: A sailor song?
Amaya Hamilton: (to Kirsten) We do a sailor song every year.
Kirsten Herd: Really? Are you serious? (singing) The fish go sailing through the sea!
Tien Nguyen: Isn’t it also a collab with the choir?
Amaya Hamilton: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s the choir and the orchestra.
Kirsten Herd: Technically?
Amaya Hamilton: Someone plays the fiddle, I think.
Kirsten Herd: It’s technically a collab, but like, we don’t really work with them.
Jael Osongo: We do work for the jazz. We do get the band to come up to the third floor.
Kirsten Herd: Yeah, that’s with the jazz band.
Jael Osongo: It’s really fun! I like doing that.
Tien Nguyen: Well, that’s really all I have for you guys today! It’s been really exciting.
All: Thank you!
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If you want to see the Dancers and their amazing performances outside of Holiday Spectacular, there are plenty more shows in the future! The Seniors have their Senior Showcase, Juniors have their Junior Showcase, and the entire department will finish the year out with their Spring Ballet. More information on those shows will be revealed as we get closer to the dates.
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