The Mycenaean

The annual LRHS Spring Dance Concert took place this past Wednesday, May 22 and on Thursday, May 23. The concert started at 7 pm in the Leesville Auditorium and it was open to anyone who wanted to see the dancers. Tickets were sold online or at the doors for 7 Dollars. 

Just as every year, LHRS students enrolled in one of the three dance classes presented their pieces which they had prepared over the last semester. 

The dance class levels are Beginning Dance, Intermediate/Proficient Dance and Dance Ensemble. All three classes together, created a 2-hour long concert with all kinds of choreographies. 

Mrs. Carr, the dance teacher, organized and choreographed some of the performances. Moreover, students partially had the opportunity to create their own dances in small groups.

In order to prepare for the two shows, dance students had to attend two after school rehearsals on Monday and Tuesday. These days were there to run the shows with all class levels combined and it served as final dress and tech rehearsal. 

Every dance told a different story and students put a lot of effort into each one of them throughout the semester. The two shows with all their dances got recorded and posted on the LRHS dance website. 

Intermediate/Proficient class

This semester the dance levels Intermediate and Proficient are mixed and one class. Mrs. Carr teaches these students everyday in the second period. 

Just as the other two classes, this period worked hard to cover a big part of the concerts with good choreographies and performances. 

After having spent an entire semester together, the class has grown together and students made new friendships. Next to that, everyone progressed in their dance abilities and some of the students were able to audition and make it into the dance ensemble or dance team for the coming year.  

Lillian Hogg, sophomore, is one of the students who auditioned and will be part of the dance ensemble next year. She really enjoyed this semester as a proficient dancer and liked presenting her dances at the Spring Concert. 

Preparing for the concert was easy for Hogg: “We had a lot of rehearsals in class for this,” said Hogg. Rehearing with her classmates made her feel less nervous and more comfortable with the dances. 

When talking about her experience with dance, Hogg said: “This was my first dance concert at Leesville, I’ve only done dance outside of school.”

Reflecting on both shows with her own and the group’s performance, Hogg feels confident and satisfied. “I think it went really well,” said Hogg. “I really liked the dance that Sophie and I choreographed [and] the dance ensemble’s junior dance to the song ‘Get Lucky’. It seemed like they were having a lot of fun,” added Hogg. 

The Intermediate/Proficient dance class had a total of two class dances which were already choreographed. Hung up was one of them, taught by Mrs. Carr, which was also presented on both concert nights. 

Additionally, there was a special dance this semester choreographed and taught by Savannah, Meredith College student . The story of the dance circled around World War 2 and had a dreary mood to it. While students embodied soldiers and victims who died in the war, the dance style was very different from the others.

Ashley Stanziale, sophomore, was a part of these class dances and in the Proficient class. She enjoyed participating in Savannah’s choreography and said: “I thought it was interesting and a good opportunity to learn a different dance style because I would have probably never tried to do that style of a dance.”

Before the concert, Stanziale liked preparing and rehearsing with the other dance students and felt prepared for the show. “I was more excited than nervous because my dances were more fun than stressful and I felt well prepared,” said Stanziale. 

Looking back, her favorite dances were some of the small groups’ choreographies. “My favorite dance was either ‘Back on 74’ or ‘Get Lucky’,” said Stanziale. 

Overall, for Stanziale it was a successful semester with not only work that she put in but also a lot of fun. The people in the class made it so great for her and she said: “I really like the people in this class and it was really fun because everyone is so nice.”