Hannah Cole
4/19/2024
On April 25th, 26th, and 27th at 7 o’clock Ramona High School Dance classes will premiere their Spring Dance Concert, “Breaking Boundaries”, with tickets on sale at lunch and after school for 10 dollars. Tickets can also be bought the day of at the door for 12 dollars. The show will feature over 100 dance students from all levels of dance classes with about 90% of it being student-directed.
“This is a show where I really asked them to push themselves out of their comfort zone and they were creating their choreography so I wanted more props, new production elements that we’ve never used before, for example, we have a student choreographer bringing in moss and twinkle lights that create a magical piece,” says Mrs. Cameron, Ramona High’s dance teacher.
“Both using different props and using different styles of dance make this year's show different. With hula and African dances, we feel like that is why breaking boundaries made sense because they were just pushing the envelope and breaking boundaries we’ve never broken before,” said Mrs. Cameron.
Dance classes focus a lot on student involvement with students in Dance II and Dance Productions being able to choreograph their pieces. “Students are given the opportunity to creatively showcase their dance works in one of our annual dance productions whether it be a solo, duet, small group, or even a large class group,” says Cameron. “Students first led auditions for their pieces, allowing them to experience what it would be like for the casting process of commercials or music videos, which lead to weekly rehearsals for 10 weeks, then theater and stage rehearsals allowing them to refine their dances with professional stage lighting, designs, and costuming.”
Katherin Thompson, vice president of Dance Productions and a senior, worked on the choreography for a dance called “I’m Just A Girl” to the No Doubt song, another piece showcasing the seniors, and her solo, all of which she has been working on since January. She detailed her and her peer's dedication to the upcoming show, “we’ve been working hard on all choreography during elt, lunch practices, and class time, even after school.”
The dances performed in the show vary from fun and lighthearted spectacles to deep and meaningful ones. Grace Walter, a junior, who has participated in dance for about 10 years and is a part of the upcoming show stated, “I'm excited to be doing mine. I’m doing a cops and robbers theme to the Bruno Mars song “Runaway Baby”. It’ll have the robbers getting a bag and then cops chasing after them the whole time. It’ll be a jazz dance so it will be fast, upbeat, and all that good stuff.”
Students have the opportunity to be a part of other students' pieces, “I’m most excited to be in Vyktoria Garcias’ dance because it's all about girls' body image and I think it’s going to be really impactful. I think the audience will get chills watching it. I just get chills dancing in it.” exclaimed Grace Walter.
Each year Mrs. Cameron invites a guest to help students choreograph their pieces, this year she is hosting an alumni of the class of 2023, Kelly Valencia who choreographed an African Dance inspired Hip Hop routine that the Dance Production performed at this year’s San Diego Youth Dance Festival in Coronado. The routine will be staged at the Spring Dance show next week.
This year's spring show is unique as it features a dance with Mr. Marshall’s class, a class for disabled students. Mr. Marshall’s class will dance alongside Mrs. Cameron's students to songs from the Trolls Movie soundtrack which is their class favorite. The class collaboration can be seen at Thursday's show and will be an adorable one worth watching!
Be sure to purchase a ticket if you’re interested in watching the upcoming shows on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday outside of Mrs. Cameron's room during lunch and after school, and if you can’t make the show stay tuned for another article detailing the happenings!