Students performed their final dance, choreographed by Zara Harding ’18, who grounded the piece in Jamaican dance culture.
On March 23 and March 24, Choate held its annual dance concert, a yearly showing of Choate’s dance clubs. Step Squad, Dance Company, Dance History, and Hip Hop began preparing their various performances at the beginning of fall term. Students in the clubs worked with different guest artists, faculty members, and student choreographers, and they also spent most of their afternoons rehearsing in the dance studio. This effort truly paid off, as the show was one of the most popular performances this year.
Dance concert preparation was long and tough. Since September, students rehearsed every Sunday for at least two hours. For some dancers, rehearsals started as early as 9:30 a.m. and ended as late as 4:30 p.m. Dancer Di’Anna Bonomolo ’20 said, “As much as I am a part of all of the dance clubs at Choate, including the Dance Arts Concentration Program, I had to sacrifice a lot of my time to dedicate myself to the concert. For me, it was about 11 hours of practice a week, not including any additional practices called. I am also constantly practicing in my head or in my room sometimes. Though it is a lot, I chose to do this. I can’t imagine a life without dance.”
Heather Shao ’19 added, “The desire to make the concert perfect stressed the dancers, but I think the hard times the group went through together made us better as a team.”
The dance concert contained different types of music and dances choreographed by a wide array of individuals. Ms. Kalya Yannatos, Arts Department Head, choreographed numerous dances for the concert. These included a dance to the Dvorak Piano Quintet, portraying the lightness and playfulness in the music.
The uniqueness of each piece in the dance concert grabbed the audience’s attention. Bonomolo said, “Many of our dances have a story behind them, whether they are fun and spirited pieces or deeper and not as joyful. I hope that we also try and connect with each other enough to tell our stories more effectively.”
A great example of diverse music and dance was “Fly,” choreographed by Katie Lee ’18 and Tiffany Lin ’18. Of the piece, Ariel Kim ’20 said, “I enjoyed the vividity of the dance. The bright colors, the piece, and the movements all went together really nicely.”
The energy put in by students, guest artists, and faculty members shone brightly in the show and once again reminded the Choate community of the beauty and importance of dance. Ms. Yannatos wanted to congratulate all dancers for a wonderful concert, as well as for their dedication. She said, “Without the dancers and their love for dancing, we could not have prepared this amazing concert. I want to tell all my dancers that I am very proud of their hard work.”
