On November 29th and December 1st, Corona del Mar High School’s dance department held one of their two notorious Choreographers’ Showcases. The showcase’s purpose is to not just highlight the progress made by the dancers of different skill levels but to also show off the hard work they’ve made this semester. There was a variation of group dances, solos, duets, and trios that occurred in the showcase, which were styled with different genres of music ranging from Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” to “Tears of Gold” by Faouzia.

When expressing her pride in her dancers, Ms. Beckman, the dance teacher at CdM for eight years, said, “I am so proud of my students’ level of investment in the show. Everyone [had a] desire to perform well and put on a good show. They worked hard in class to ensure they were well prepared [so] they could entertain their audience,” continuing with, “[A]ll the small groups, the solos, duets, and the trios were choreographed by students…the larger group numbers I choreographed,” Beckman explained.

When detailing the hard work that went into creating this phenomenal showcase, Ms. Beckman claimed, “We essentially used the whole first semester to prepare for this so students started working on their pieces around mid-September, and [have] been working towards this performance since then.” When asked what future plans she had for dance this year, Beckman answered, ” During the second half of the year, we will be preparing for our spring dance show. The spring dance show will include all of the dance students. This show focused on the Dance 2 and Dance 3 classes, but the spring dance show will also incorporate the Dance 1 classes.” When asked what obstacles she had while preparing for this production, Beckman explained, “We had a lot of students battling bad colds and things like that going around. [Also] our rehearsal time is limited class time.” When asked what her favorite part of teaching dance was, Beckman voiced, “I find a great amount of joy in being able to share that with other students and provide experiences for them that hopefully they remember and grow from.”

One of the dancers who participated in the showcase was Rowan Tewari, a junior at CdM. When asked what she enjoyed during the showcase, Tewari expressed, “I like dancing with the middle schoolers and getting to know the next big dancers of CdM.” She mentioned she also “enjoyed ending the dance and hearing people clap when [she] was exhausted. “There are always obstacles that people have to face when they are preparing for something, but the reward of reaching that moment all the hard work has gone towards is worth it in the end. Tewari voiced, “The hardest part for me was the leap under pressure,” continuing with, “Dancing [to me] is a way to have fun and move without feeling awkward. I feel like dancing whenever I hear music, so it’s a great way to do it without feeling subconscious.”

Freshman Ellie Oranghi also performed in the showcase, mentioning the “hardest part of learning the routine was making sure that everyone was dancing in sync.” Being a new student this year, Oranghi stated, “I got a lot closer with my classmates and also met a lot of amazing new people.” After practicing throughout the first semester, Oranghi expresses being happy to “finally perform what they worked so hard on and let friends and family see the result.” Each dancer has their own story on how they started, Oranghi says she has “loved dancing since [she] was young, so dancing to [her] means just having fun on and off stage.

The audience that attended consisted of family and friends of the dancers, as well as students simply there to see an expressive and diverse performance. Amongst the crowd, Michele Cid, mother of eighth-grade dancer, Lexi Cid, sat with the rest of the family to watch and support her daughter as well as her daughter’s friends involved in the showcase. After the first act of the show, she mentioned the part of the performance that stood out most to her so far was the solo routines. Cid detailed, “I think they were super brave for being able to go on stage and be the sole focus.”

All the time and obstacles passed through over the course of about 4 months led to this amazing two-night show. The dancers in CdM’s dance 2 and 3 classes were able to showcase different styles of dance with mainly student-choreographed routines. Each song was coupled with different styles of costume which perfectly complemented the song choices and choreography. The Choreographers’ Showcase can be looked forward to in the spring, until then!