“Worth The Wait”

Each seat available in the Highland gym was filled as parents and students alike waited eagerly for Highland Dance Company’s “Breakthrough” concert to begin. There was chatter, free cookies, and 45 minutes of waiting for the technical difficulties to be sorted out. Erin Patrick, Highland Dance Company’s teacher, frantically dashed around the gym with stage crew right on her heels, looking for a way to fix the problem.
“The technical aspect was very hard because we do this for one night and one night only,” Patrick said. “We have to convert this whole space into a theater in a matter of hours, and as you can see it’s a little unpredictable.”
Dance Company usually performs on the stage in the auditorium, and it was the change in scenery that caused the technical difficulties to arise. Some of the lights that were meant to light up the curtains behind the dancers would not come on, a problem that the dancer’s would not have to deal with in their typical performance setting.
One may think that the difficulties that come with performing in the gym would deter the dancer’s from feeling inclined to perform there again, but Dance Company member Annie Miner, among others, managed to stay positive and enjoy the change of scenery.
“I really liked performing in the gym, it’s a different experience,” Miner said. “As you can tell there were a couple of technical difficulties, but it reaches out to a new crowd. I think it’s more casual and inviting, and I really just love being with the dance company girls.”
The girls in Dance Company do not just focus on the dance aspect of the group – they also try to create a very tight-knit family environment that assures to raise one another up.
“I loved doing this with all my dance sisters. They’re all so supportive and I know going in that we’re all in this together,” Maya Awada, a member of Dance Company, said. “There is just so much love in Dance Company.”
The concert was made up of 14 dances, with nine of the dances being choreographed by the same girls that performed them. Nearly all of the Dance Company members got to work with one or two other girls to create a dance that they could perform and call their own, an aspect of the performance that all of the girls were excited to experience.
As exciting as choreographing their own dance was, it didn’t come easily or quickly.
“I think learning to accommodate to other dancers was the hardest part,” Miner said. “Vivian Greenhawt is a sophomore and I’m a senior, so it’s a really new and fun experience to work with her, and she’s such an amazing dancer that I look up to so it was amazing.”
Along with the company, Highland’s Junior Dance Company performed twice at the concert, with all 24 of the girls being a part of both dances. Junior Dance Company has several girls who had never performed before, so it added to the experience to be a part of that.
This concert was particularly impressive due to the time constraint put on the girls.
“This whole show was put together relatively quickly, especially compared to the spring concert,” Annie Connolly, who helped with choreography for the Junior Dance Company, said. “This one we had a lot less time and a lot less preparation, but they totally pulled it off.”
Erin Patrick as well as others agreed that this concert was certainly “worth the wait”, and is eager to see Dance Company’s spring concert in March that will be in the auditorium.