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Each year, our Dance Show highlights the sensational talent of our pupil performers, and this year's show was no different. On Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 April, our students wowed audiences with routines using a variety of styles, perfectly choreographed to a range of music styles. Sixth Former Nerea K-M reviews the show below.
The annual Dance Show provides a great opportunity to take part in, and enjoy, a whole variety of dances. This year I was involved in the musical theatre piece, with a soundtrack taken from a mash-up of music from the theatrical production of Hamilton. We had been working on the piece since just before Christmas, so by the time we performed we knew the choreography so well that we were able to thoroughly enjoy ourselves on stage.
We were lucky enough to have standing ovations on the two nights that we performed, which was a gratifying response to our hard work.
Nerea K-M
Throughout the technical and dress rehearsals, I had the opportunity to enjoy the wide-ranging talent that was showcased throughout every dance. I particularly enjoyed the ‘traditional Chinese dance’ and the ‘Dream Girls’ jazz piece, as they were each unique and mesmerising in their own ways. This show is particularly profound for me, as I remember taking part in it as a pupil at Lancing Prep Worthing, so it was lovely to see three pieces performed from the Prep school, and to see old teachers whom I hadn’t seen since my time there four years ago.
Dance is ever-growing at Lancing, and it is exciting to be a part of that. Upon joining the school in September of 2020, I would not have declared myself a dancer, however through the commitment made by my teachers each week to develop my technique and the countless opportunities given to us to display our hard work, I could reach to say that I am now a dancer. This is particularly aiding with my ambitions to have a lead role in the next school musical.
The musical of Anything Goes in 2022 saw me and 10 other dancers learn how to tap dance. Whilst this seemed like a challenging task at first, the support of the dance team and choreographers helped us deliver a clean performance, which we all enjoyed. By contrast, The Addams Family in 2023 involved a smaller cast, resulting in more complex dances which pushed us all to produce an incredible show. We are eagerly anticipating what challenge we will encounter in the upcoming musical.
The Dance Show of 2024 also saw the developing strength of the boys’ dance group, ‘Vortex’, which was very exciting to see.
Nerea K-M
Traditionally in society, dance has been viewed as a predominantly female industry, but the way we combat this stereotype is clear to see within the College dance community. The Addams Family saw a great cohesion of male and female dancers through the ‘Tango de Amor’ which involved us embracing our ballroom technique to create a powerful, emotional display. Similarly, the Dance Show ended with a terrific jazz number influenced by the tango and was an amazing way to encompass all that dance is at Lancing: cohesive, diverse, captivating, impressive and most of all thoroughly enjoyable.