The journey of a dancer is filled with hours of practice and auditions. Here, at Olympia, on March 7th, our hard working dancers performed the creative dances they prepared for the Dance Showcase. These talented students auditioned for a spot in the upcoming student showcase. Their hard work and dedication had finally paid off and they were ready to show off their talents and give the audience an amazing show. As they prepare to take the stage, let’s look at what led up to these dancers’ exciting moment.
The hard work and effort our dancers have poured into preparing for the student showcase is truly remarkable. For weeks, they were rehearsing their dances, perfecting their routines, and working on their moves harder than ever. Preparing for the show while simultaneously balancing school and other responsibilities, our girls have shown that anything is possible. Even at the most difficult times they still fought through all obstacles and their hard work really paid off.
“We have been going over our dances making sure we all look uniform and going to our fullest extent. Running through our routine at least 10 times each practice so we can get used to putting our full energy out into the performance,” senior Breanna Alphonse expressed.
“We kept rehearsing, went full out, and changed things that needed to be changed and practiced formations,” freshman Yael Crawford explained.
“We kept doing it over and over, changing certain things we think would be better and working on it outside of school,” sophomore Josie Clermont said.
When the dancers found out that they were selected to perform in a student showcase their reactions were bittersweet and filled with joy and excitement.
“We were really excited that our group got chosen considering that most didn’t make it. It goes to show that our teacher saw potential in our dance and it’s up to us to keep up the hard work becau
se it’s still not too late to get cut from the show,“ Alphonse explained.
“We were hyped and yelling. We were so excited it motivated us to go harder to perfect our dance,” Crawford added.
“I was shocked, happy, and couldn’t believe it. Me and my group worked tremendously hard and I’m so glad that our hard work paid off,” Clermont expressed.
Preparing for the showcase was not easy but our dancers still pushed through and gave it their all.
“Some challenges were encountered with the limited practice time. Working with a group of 6 people comes with 6 different schedules we have to work with. We really only have 50 minutes of class time which isn’t ideal but we worked through it by facetiming each other and sending videos in our group chat. We also practice during lunch,” Breanna Alphonse expressed.
“[From] stage frights and us coming up with choreography, we overcame it by using videos to get ideas and we made it work,” Yael Crawford said.
“Coming up with the moves was a struggle, having to change things the day before auditioning was also a struggle. We watched [each] other dance [and it gave us] inspirations and it helped us a lot,” sophomore Josie Clermont explained.
To make it to the dance showcase in the future, our dancers advice is to stay focused and practice consistently. Dedication is key, so students should attend all rehearsals and put in extra time to perfect their dances.
“Some advice I would give to future students looking to audition for student showcases is to figure out what song(s) you want to do and at least the first 30 seconds of the dance before it’s time to actually start working on it. If you pick a group make sure it has people that you know won’t let you down and will always be on their A-Game. And, most importantly, have fun, be different, and unique because this is your time to stand out!” Alphonse stated.
“Everytime you practice, don’t get stuck in your head, just go for it. Don’t be shy, ” Crawford explained.
“Just trust your gut, don’t say you’re cut before you find out you’re cut. When you dance, do it full out, have good face expressions, just give it your all,” Clermont said.
It’s been a fascinating journey, from auditions to amazing performances. This showcase has been a wonderful experience for our students. The dedication, passion, respectful environment, and hard work they have shown throughout this process is much appreciated and very inspiring. After observing a spectacular show our talented dancers had put on, we are very proud to have such talented individuals represent our school!
