The splash of colors, vibrancy, moves, and technique were all traits that were seen when going to the Charity Dance Show on December 6, all moving to helping cure the incurable. It was a special night for many dancers, to help fund the advancements towards the curing of rare diseases. All the funds of the Charity Dance Show would go to helping cure additional sex combs like 1 (ASXL) syndromes, to the ASXL Rare Research Endowment Foundation.
After the murmurs of spectators halted and the lights turned off, the red curtains slowly rolled up to an amazing spectacle of bright oranges, blues, and greens for the first act which was the 2nd period Intermediate Dance class. It was a jazz and contemporary piece. Dancers contorted and moved to the beat of the music while the colors moved in the background simultaneously and in-sync; the dancers ended their first act with a fierce look where they all stopped and looked to the audience to showcase the dancers’ boldness.
The next act was a powerful and incredibly meaningful one where the Orchesis dancers performed a wonderfully orchestrated performance called “Unfamiliar,” while being completely blindfolded.
Dancers were open to a huge crowd under those blindfolds, and despite that they were so synchronized and together the entire piece. They used the elements of shadow and light where Orchesis was the shadows, and the background had a bright light to blend the dance seamlessly. They ended this sequence by taking their blindfolds off, looking to the audience, and slowly drifting away from the stage.
“I was a little nervous going into the performance, but the excitement from the audience was so contagious,” said freshman Mili Cruz. “It felt amazing to contribute to something positive and have fun at the same time”.
She was among the many who had performed that night and she observed the reactions of the audience while doing what she does best. Her response shows how the dancers were able to overcome their fears of performing in front of a large audience, and have fun.
The third and fourth piece performed by the Foothills Middle School (FMS) Highlander Drill team were fun and cute, projecting their love for their school. After FMS performed, there were hot pink lights and glitter! Barbie! “Speed Drive” by Charli XCX and “Barbie” by Aqua were among the songs used to make this jazzy pink Barbie dance routine by periods 2 and 3, Beginning Dance.
After this, Orchesis performed their piece “Move It” which was simply enough, an upbeat piece using colors like neons, greens, and purples. They delivered a jaw-dropping synchronized dance that had such great movement and flair to it.
After this, they took a ten minute break to show the audience what that night was really all about. The ASXL Rare Research Endowment Foundation wanted to show what ASXL Syndromes are about, and what the possibilities are of curing this somewhat incurable disease. They showed a video of a few cases of ASXL, including Emma Burmejo, a young girl with ASXL 1. This really opened the eyes of many audience members on how a rare disease such as ASXL could affect the livelihoods of people. It also showcased how ASXL Rare Research Endowment Foundation (ARRE) is attempting to find relief for the disease.. After that, the mother of Emma Burmejo, and the speaker there representing ARRE, Eva Burmejo, thanked the audience and the school for helping to support the cause.
“It’s amazing to see how much passion everyone has for the event, and knowing we’re supporting a great cause makes the dance even more special,” freshman Sunny Shi said. “Every step we took tonight was for something bigger than just us,” said freshman dancer Sunny Shi.”
She agreed on how the cause moved the dancers and everyone else, but simply bringing their presence there was what meant the most to the cause.
Jumping straight back into routine, dancers come out of the curtains suddenly in tuxedos to create their own spin on “Tightrope,” a cabaret dance routine with a gentlemen-like vibe.
Soon after, Orchesis performed the seventh performance with a spin on Tate McRae’s song “Exes.” They performed in bright, sparkly purple outfits against moving colored backgrounds and flashing lights giving a sassy, jazzy vibe to the whole routine. Including more movement than ever, dancers committed to doing pirouettes and flips across the dance floor, and they executed wonderfully. Not a single person was out of step or made a mistake on the colorful movements.
Next, Beginning Dance period 4 had a jazz routine that was a little thrilling and flirty with the song “Rain on Me” by Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande with the use of objects like spinning white umbrellas which is what closed the performance.
Orchesis gracefully made their way back on the stage again to perform their piece which embodied the vibes of New York City. They performed this piece with such finesse and precision and moved together similar to the bustling ambience of the city. Although this piece was more of a niche one, the artistic expression used and the great image of New York shone through.
“It was spectacular to watch. I have never been to New York, but I felt if it was a dance, it would be this,” said audience member Olivia Duboe.
Following Orchesis, First Avenue Middle School’s elective dance class performed a piece from the new Disney “Descendants: The Rise of Red,” showcasing a sweet looking sequence over an evil and dark one.
Next, a piece from the Orchesis called “When We’re Older” showed the beauty of change as we grow older and come to accept ourselves for who we are through movement. This emotional and euphoric dance routine proved to be beautiful with a slow classical song playing in the background and everyone on stage showed the beauty of being together.
After this the fifth period Beginning Dance class performed a Latin-jazz styled performance that proved to be upbeat and sensual. Dancing along to “Let’s Get Loud” by Jennifer Lopez, the orange flapper dresses and the entirety of the dance group was such an amazing refresh of the more emotional styled dances the audience watched before.
One of the dancers, freshman Sunny Shi, shared how magical the moment was to dance up the stage.
“Being on the stage and watching the audience’s reaction to our Latin twist was great, and being nervous was honestly the last thing I thought of. I just thought, have fun and be yourself,” said Shi.
Setting the stage for the final dance routine, period 3 Intermediate Dance performed a Romeo and Juliet inspired piece titled “Hold Me While You Wait,” where the movement of hands and elusivity was the main theme of this routine.
The great Charity Dance Show closed with their final original piece from Orchesis name “I Dare You.” Using upbeat music and bright colors shooting across the stage, extravagant movement was involved in this piece. Dancers flipped across the stage doing backflips, frontflips, aerials, and thigh stands; this was the most “extra” routine out of all fourteen, but as usual, amazing to watch.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DCI.
