The annual dance department showcase is a one-night spectacular featuring every dance class at Highland specifically, starring Elevate Dance Company.
On April 22, dancers lit up the stage showing their growth, strength, and energy, their vitality. The word “vitality” comes from the Latin origin “vita” meaning life and this year’s Highland dance department is full of life.
The show featured Dance 1, Dance 2, Hip Hop, Elevate, & Dance Company and Highland Dance Director Kelsey Condie loves watching the dances come to life.
“I think my favorite thing about the showcase is just watching all the kids get to dance and perform,” Condie said. “Watching the shy ones that seem very hesitant at the beginning about performing getting on stage and being like ‘oh my gosh that was so much fun.’”
Dance Co. puts on their own concert every March, so the dance department showcase is mainly focused around Elevate and every year they give their everything to it.
Elevate sparkled from the moment they stepped on stage with their colorful costumes and bright smiles. The team’s showmanship, technique, & creativity shined.
The show has been in the works since October. The girls have been coming in early for months and working on their dances nearly every day in preparation. Vitality was their opportunity to demonstrate their hard work, and it did exactly that.
Vitality had 25 dances in it. Out of those 25, 20 were Elevate’s dances and many of them were self-choreographed small groups.
One of the small group dances incorporated a production aspect known as silhouette lighting. This is when the main lights turn off leaving only the cyclorama (cyc), lit which makes the dancers appear as silhouettes to the audience. The dance used this effect in the middle of the dances. It was an upbeat jazz piece, that was performed well but stood out more than others because the effect enhanced the mood and helped create an intriguing vibe.
Aeli Maxwell is a senior officer on the team and last night was her final concert.
“I love performing; my favorite part of dance is being on stage,” Maxwell said. “It’s a lot of fun to get ready with everybody and hangout and perform on stage and do rehearsals so having this be the last time is a little bittersweet.”
Though the night was “bittersweet”, it ran smoothly, and the auditorium was filled with proud family members and friends. Everyone seemed to love it because there was cheering from the crowd for every dance. Vitality was a success.
“I am so proud of everyone! I think that it went even better than I hoped for,” Condie said.
