The Highland Dance Company performed its fall concert on Oct. 8, orbiting around their theme: Mindset.
It came to life as the senior officers — president Sophie Farrell, vice president Mia Olson, and secretary Cady Long — opened the performance with a few remarks. Then they started off this concert with a “Bang” as they performed to Jessie J’s and Ariana Grande’s Bang Bang.
The opening piece involved both Dance Company and Elevate. Their costumes stole everyone’s attention with silver sparkles that were illuminated by the dancers’ sharp-edged movements and crisp choreography.
“It went really great tonight!” Farrell said. “I just love having such close friendships with all of these girls.”
Many of these dancers have their closest friends on the team with them and they love to cheer each other on as they step into the spotlight and just dance.
There were 14 dances in all during the recital, and each one added a unique and incredible performance to the show.
Their second dance, called “Naive”, demonstrated the strength and skill of these dancers with stunts and balance making the choreography of it all stand out. This dance was performed by Maebel Green, Lyra Murray, and Ivy Rockwood.
With elegance, they showed how creative dance and beautiful storytelling can take place on the center stage.
Elevate held a strong group of dancers this year that demanded the audience’s attention. From start to finish everyone was in time and put their full effort into each detail. They really showed who was the “Boss” of hip hop and not just any “Original” dance team.
With a variety of dances showcasing multiple talents throughout the group, a good amount of different styled dances flooded the program.
“Love you now” was a great contrast to the fast paced and dramatic dances by using more controlled and fluid movements. These dancers played with different timings and worked together to make a masterpiece with the full company.
This group truly had strong performances as a whole and within smaller groups.
Stella Henderson and Ila Parker brought all the attitude dressed in ping as they danced with refined moves to match the rhythms that echoed through the gymnasium.
As the mood changed to a softer song, The View Between Villages by Noah Kahn, Addy Larson, Mya Larson, and Meg Raybould showed a beautiful side of sisterhood within Dance Company through strong lifts that required all of them to work together to the perfectly executed moves as they moved through space simultaneously.
But no one in the crowd was ready for what came next.
As Masina Hunt, Georgia Hathaway, and Cady Long confidently took the stage with neon wigs and blue sweatsuits, they thrilled with sassy steps in Panda Dunks to emphasize their hip hop skills.
“My favorite dance is hip hop because everyone has the best energy,” Hunt said.
As the concert came to a close, the Dance Company came together for their final piece in this fall recital. As they found new dimensions in their choreography through spacing on the stage, energy buzzed through the gymnasium.
Mindset was a great performance to start the year, and these dancers are excited to continue growing as better individuals and closer together.
“The best part of this team is the community,” Hunt said. “Everyone loves each other. I feel like I could go to any of the girls and just start a conversation. We all love and support each other.”
