The Dance Department hosted its annual end of the year performance showcase, “The Closing Act” performed on April 18-19 at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center .
The performance consisted of Dance Team’s competition routines such as its first place national champion small lyrical routine to “Ode to a Love Lost” by Finn Ronsdorf, nine time back-to-back kick state champion routine to “The Raiders March (1981)” by Meco and large prop routine to “Theme From Close Encounters” by Meco. Advanced Dance performed dances to songs such as “The 30th,” by Billie Eillish. From Dance 1 were routines to “It’s The Hard-Knock Life” by Quvenzhané Wallis and “Workin’ Day and Night” by Michael Jackson. Dance 2 danced to “Another Day Of Sun” by La La Land Cast.
“My favorite part about performing is showing everyone what we have been working on all season and expressing our emotions to the audience from the stage,” senior Dance Team co-captain Tiffany Peng said. “The competitions made [us] more prepared since we knew what to expect by performing our very best for the audience, especially our last time out.”
Dance 1 and Dance 2 students worked alongside Dance Department director Jenny Tomlin and Dance Team head coach Audrey Wang to choreograph routines and prepare for “The Closing Act” performance
“It was really fun performing during the show. Offstage, I was feeling a little nervous but it ended up being a fun experience. I told myself, ‘you have been practicing this dance for forever, just don’t overthink it,’” Dance 2 sophomore Paige Rivas said. “I loved being part of the show and watching all of my friends dance. Next year, I’m not going to be doing dance, [so] it made me realize how much I’ll miss being a part of the Walnut dancers. Being able to go on stage and perform is so fun.”
Advanced Dance was given prompts and themes, which helped students in selecting songs for their dance. Their dances were completely student choreographed. In preparation for routines, dancers spent weeks practicing and cleaning routines.
“My favorite thing about dance is being able to express my creativity alongside my best friends and the little energy circles we did [before the performance] to give each other confidence and reassurance that everything would be okay,” Advanced Dance senior Janki Kothari said.
After performing over an entire school year of competition numbers ranging from large group small group routines, a Dance Team reflection video was projected in the second act of the show. It recapped the highlights, performances and moments shared between dancers throughout the school year, which was followed by the senior Dance Team members’ farewell dance routine to, “Forgive Myself” by Sam Smith. Dance Team members have been preparing routines since late last summer and polished choreography leading up to the show.
“I had very mixed feelings in a way that felt exciting yet bittersweet. I was excited to perform on the stage one last time, but sad to be leaving the stage after competing for 7 years,” Peng said. “I hope the audience enjoyed our last show of the 2023-2024 season and I hope they come to watch more in the future.”
