On Friday, January 24, 2020, Hill dancers held their second dance recital of the year. The night started with a performance by the Introduction to Dance class, followed by the Step and Dance Team and the Hill Dance Company’s dance pieces. There were also solo performances by Adele Harris ’22, Mikhaila Smith ’22, and Lauryn Fudala ’21 as well as duets by Harris and Smith, and Fudala ’21 and Isabella Baker ’20.

This term so far, the dance class learned jazz techniques and took a salsa dancing class with Marcela Gaitan’s Spanish 1 class.

“It was a lot of fun,” Harris said. “We danced with partners and learned salsa techniques.” 

These elements were incorporated into many of the routines of the night. The Step and Dance team also performed a piece with music by a Brazilian duo, Tropkillaz. The dancers integrated African dance styles into their performance.

Students in the dance class vary in levels; some complete beginners, and some have been dancing for years.

“One of the biggest challenges in group numbers is finding a balance between the moves due to the different skill levels in the class,” Harris said.

Many of the more experienced students choreographed and performed solos.

“The difference between performing as a soloist and dancing in a group is that when you are in a group, you have to focus on being in sync,” Harris said. “When you are dancing by yourself, you have less to worry about because it doesn’t have to be as uniform as a group number.”

Harris has been dancing for many years, and she found that the dance program at Hill is quite different from the program she was involved with prior to coming to Hill.

“Here, the dance program is less competitive and everyone is very supportive,” Harris said. “At my old dance company, everyone was always fighting to be the best, and it was a huge time commitment with practices up to four hours a day. Here we only have 45-minute classes, so we can’t go as in depth but it is still a lot of fun.”

The next dance recital is scheduled for May 1, 2020. For the rest of the winter term and in the spring term, the dance students will be learning hip-hop, tap dance, and more jazz technique.