Gabby Molina ’21
Over the summer, as Ms. Bennett and I began to plan for this year’s Dancers program, we were adamant about giving Dancers a new look. We both agreed that Dancers needed to be inclusive and accessible to everyone — from participating at home, to incorporating all styles of dance, like classical ballet, cultural dance, or hip hop, we wanted to make sure everyone’s talents were noticed. Ms. Bennett was also heavily inspired by what she saw from the dance community on social media during quarantine — the use of technology to enhance performances, unconventional dance venues, and an amazing “Dark Room” dance series from the City Ballet of San Diego.
We began implementing our new ideas as soon as school began in the fall. We made sure to send out Zoom links for dance classes and rehearsals, made a folder for anyone to place dance videos into, and sent out resources and information on various styles of dance.
Our first performance of the year was our traditional Christmas showcase, where we performed Nutcracker variations and an original holiday dance. Naturally, Ms. Bennett was still uncertain about what the pandemic may hold, so we opted for a recorded version of the performance that could be shared with the Oak Knoll community. We recorded all of our dances, narrated the story of the Nutcracker, and took some holiday-themed photos to be included in “A Very Dancers Christmas”.
When we returned from Christmas break, it was time to begin preparing for our spring performance, which usually takes place in the evening and is more formal than our Christmas showcase. Ms. Bennett, always prepared for anything, planned an in-person, live component to the show, and ensured that we would also be able to transfer the performance to a virtual venue if needed. As many other events, like the Musical and Spring Dramatica, took place virtually, we opted to do an entirely virtual performance, as we had done for our Christmas performance, but with more pieces, various components to each dance, and more experimentation with venues and editing. We even incorporated some of the things that inspired us over the summer!
In addition to an entirely virtual format, the Dance Concert this year had another difference — we created a narrative, through our pieces and through excerpts from poems. Our performance was inspired by our feelings over the past year, as we began to make sense of everything that had happened over the course of the pandemic. Each dance is representative of a “stage” during the pandemic that we have all felt at some point. From hope, to despair, to a sliver of joy, we hope to capture and express all of the emotions we have experienced during the pandemic.
The Dance Concert will be premiering on Friday, May 21 at 7pm on the Oak Knoll Youtube.