It was a crisp autumn night on the October 16th where in the Cypress Lake High School Auditorium over 30 dancers were preparing for the fall concert. “The fall concert is one my favorite shows the department puts on because it features student and guest choreography,” said third year dancer Kylie Heggemeier. This year the concert consisted of a plethora of dances, all meticulously choreographed from different sources.
One section of the concert consisted of work from guest choreographers. Allie Shimko and Kaelyn Heggemeier are both alumni of the dance program who help create this concert. Heggemeier choreographed a contemporary performance the level 1 and 2 dancers learned over the summer during their summer intensive to the 2015 song “Love in the Dark” by Adele.
“I thought it was absolutely beautiful, and the girls did an amazing job at diving into that song, it was lowkey emotional,“ said Maisy Vogel, a Junior at CLHS.
The other section of the performance was choreographed by the juniors, also known as the level threes, of the dance program. They’ve been working tirelessly for the past two months to make these collaborations. “When you’re little in the program, and you’re a dancer in the piece, you always look up to the older kids who are choreographing the pieces,” said Heggemeier, ”but now I’m older and now I’m the one choreographing and that’s crazy for all of us really.” This section in particular immersed the audience and provoked heavy emotions throughout the performance. Another fan tells us, “I thought it was very chilling, there was a lot of suspense. To be quite honest I felt distraught watching it, but it was still very good.” Clearly, passion was poured into every aspect of this project, and their hard work has resulted in a very rewarding pay off.
These concerts are also a victory lap for the two dance teachers Mrs. Burnham and Ms. Thornburg. “The concerts are fun because it gets the whole department together,” said junior Claire Martin. It’s a time for these teachers, who work so hard, to see their efforts and hard work on the stage.
Mrs. Thornburg said, “The fall concert is always exciting, every dancer puts in so much effort into their art and works so hard to put on a show like this. Mrs. Burnham and I are always so proud of our dancers.” Those who are involved in the dance department and helped put this performance together are all noticeably very passionate about their work. Mrs. Burnham and Mrs. Thornburg have brought up an immensely talented and driven group of dancers, and this year’s fall concert is a reflection of their hard work and dedication.
