Sweet Feet

The Student Choreography Concert took place on February 1 and 2. 23 dances made up this year’s concert. Out of these dances, six of them were solos. The concert had a matinee and evening performance on February 1 and had only an evening performance on February 2.

Many of the pieces in the concert were choreographed by Falcon Dance Company. Other dances were choreographed by the advanced dance class.

All the dancers participating in any level of dance at Cactus Shadows had to create a self choreographed dance for a grade in their class. The advanced class had to audition their dances, where as the beginner and intermediate levels had a choice to audition.

People who are not in the dance classes were welcome to audition their pieces. Mateo Mendoza, a senior, was the only male in the student choreography concert.

“Dance is the hidden language of the soul,” Mendoza said about why he auditioned a piece for the concert.

Students participating in the dance classes had from the beginning of December to winter break to pick a song, concept and choreograph a dance.

“It is not hard to choreograph a dance, but it does take time to make the dance match the music, look clean and portray the concept,” Ayla Hargrove, a senior who performed a solo in the concert, said.

After school got back in session, the dancers had five days to practice and clean their dances before the auditions.

True to its name, the student choreography concert has only been choreographed by students. These students also choose the music, costumes, names, and concepts for their dances.

“I love it because I get to see how creative they are,” Elissa Ericson, the dance teacher, said.

For the auditions, students signed up for a specific time slot and then performed their dances in front of a panel of judges. Two days after all the dances were auditioned; a list that contained the dances that were chosen was posted. 23 dances made it into the show.

“Performing the dance for the judges isn’t nerve wracking. It’s the waiting before and after that gets you nervous,” Hargrove said.

Andrew Cupo’s Theater Stagecraft class did the lighting for the show. There are 23 students in the class and each student got to design the lighting for one piece in the concert.