By Claire Burnett, Features Editor
On Thursday, December 9th, the River Hill Dance program had their first in-person concert in almost two years because of the pandemic. Reflecting the situation with the pandemic, the theme of the concert was “There’s No Place Like Home.”
There was a clear consensus among the dancers: it was great to be back on the stage. Sophomore Stephanie Moses mentioned “Though I haven’t done dance in years, it felt so exciting yet nerve wracking going on stage again.” Similarly, sophomore Hannah Kogul added “I honestly really missed all the excitement of being on stage. The moment everyone has been waiting for is finally coming, everyone is going full out and it’s just a really great time!” After three and a half months of school and dance classes, dancers were able to showcase their dances that they’ve been working on since the start of school.
Reminiscing on last year, sophomore Becca Karon commented “It felt really nice to be in front of a crowd again for the first time since March of 2020.” She recalled that “Last year, it was virtual, so I did not get the chance to perform in front of an audience. This year felt a lot better.”
Since school was virtual for most of the year, both the winter and spring dance concerts had to be virtual, which meant that not all of the usual elements of the dance concert were present. One of these traditions is a dance performed by the entire dance program after bows when everyone is on stage together. Senior Hannah Gitelman remarked “My favorite part is the very end after the bows where we all come together to do the last little bit of dancing. Even though the choreography wasn’t too challenging it felt so nice just to have so much fun with it and party.”
Overall, dancers were delighted by their performance at the dance concert. Stephanie stated “In my opinion, the dance concert went really well!” Comparably, Hannah added “I think the actual show went pretty smoothly considering that the only people who had gone through that experience before were the seniors and most of the juniors.”
Most years, there are more people who have been in a dance concert before, but this year, that was not the case. When more dancers are familiar with how things run with rehearsals and performances, it can make everything run smoother. Despite most dancers being unfamiliar with certain aspects of the concert, Hannah recalled “Nobody missed a dance or didn’t have a piece of their costume, which was great.”
Another difference from previous years is that there were fewer dances, and therefore no intermission. Hannah commented that Ms. Hennessie “decided to cut some dances that weren’t quite performance ready. This is most likely due to the majority of the students either not knowing or forgetting what it was like to prepare for a dance concert.” For dancers who are new to dance or haven’t performed in a while, they may be unaware of the amount of practice needed to perform their best.
Looking forward to the concert for next spring, Hannah suggested “I’m sure by spring the dances that we learn for the spring concert will all be able to stay in the program.”
With the 2021 winter dance concert, “There’s No Place Like Home” perfectly reflects the feelings of everyone involved in the concert.