Spring dance concert this week
Published 10:03 am Thursday, May 19, 2016
Davie High School dance students will present the spring concert, “A Sense of Wonder,” on Thursday and Friday, May 19 and 20 at 7 p.m. at the Brock Performing Arts Center.
The evening will feature the Davie High School Dance Program students under the direction of Terri Winchell.
“We are featuring the choreographers in the classroom so you will see lots of variety, many surprises and loads of fun on stage,” Winchell said. “Dancers have been creating original works based on teenage issues like body image in ‘Pretty Hurts’ and family strife in ‘Torn Apart.’
“Upper level classes have been studying chance in their issue dances merging their work for a more layered approach in pieces named, ‘Introspect’ an identity, and ‘Lost in Seclusion’ and reality and fantasy,” she said.
Underclassmen have been exploring locomotor (traveling) movement sequences and Indian mudras (hand gestures) in “Locomudra I and II”. Each choreographic group has been applying a process for creating using digital images of emotional connection to their selected issues to help invent and make movement choices expressing their themes, Winchell said.
The finale is full of life and energy dancing the decades with Michael Jackson, Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys music, an original excerpt from “Hard Knock Life” and more.
Get tickets from a dancer or email Winchellt@davie.k12.nc.us for $6 tickets, or pay $10 at the door.
“The spring concert is our fundraiser so that we may continue to offer concerts of this magnitude,” she said. “Hope to see you at the Brock.”
Some of the dancers choreographed their own dances, leading fellow students through learning the routines.
Brianna Lyons and Morgan Gray created “Self,” a dance about finding oneself in the midst of chaos, Lyons said. “It’s about finding yourself and figuring out who you are,” Gray said.
Jordan Hein and Morgan Sessoms created “PL&H,” standing for peace, love and happiness. It’s about learning there can be different levels of love for different people.
Skyler Shore and Maria Stillson are choreographers for “Unleashed.’ “It’s about not keeping your feelings bottled up … and unleashing it,” Stillson said. Shore said: “It’s very dark at first … and towards the end it becomes light and more free.”
Faith Peterson created “Aligning the Chakras.” A yoga practitioner, it focuses on the seven spiritual strength points in the body. “It shows the discovery of strengths when you align them,” she said.
Caroline Bandy and Kailan Thomas came up with “Gone,” a dance with a breadth of movement and sounds.
Shariece Mance created “Journey,” a dance about the evolution of African-American dance, from tribal to swing, from old school to hip hop.