By Malaya Madison
Silent murmurs, programs getting passed around, and phones being turned on Do Not Disturb in the Hendrix-Chealut theater is the moment they have been waiting for.
That moment occurred on November 20th, when Lovett’s dance company, which comprises dancers from K-12, held its bi-annual dance concert.
Upper School Period 6 started the concert off with a contemporary performance using the moves of famous choreographer Jerome Robbins.
The 7th-grade did a Hip-Hop dance that was performed to “YEAH” by Usher.
The Lower and Middle School boys always put on an enthusiastic performance dancing to “Thriller” by Michael Jackson.
Upper School Period 1 was very in sync, especially when they danced in pairs. There was a lot of coming on and off the stage, which kept the audience surprised.
The 3rd-6th students popped out jamming to “Party like a Rockstar,” which was an acrobatic dance, and they had a lot of energy.
Honors Jazz was the closing dance. They had the same style as Upper School 1, and they started yelling on stage, which made the dance more interpretive.
The concert ended with final bows and dance teachers Aaron James and Rebecca Metzger joining their dancers onstage.
The energy after the concert was electric, with parents and friends flooding the theater lobby to congratulate the dancers.
Many dance teachers from Lovett contributed to this dance concert, but Rebecca Metzger, the Director of Dance, is the mastermind.
Mrs. Metzger has been at Lovett since 2012 and has seen the program grow “about nine times more.”
While the program has grown tremendously, so have the expectations of the class.
For 7th-12th grade dance students, this dance concert serves as their final exam. So, Students dedicate all their class time preparing for this moment.
They also spend out-of-school time working towards the concert. Tech rehearsal happens on the Monday of performance week. It lasts from 3:45 to 8 pm, where students enjoy watching their classmates’ talents, correcting their mistakes, and making TikToks with friends.
Mrs. Metzger stays in the auditorium with a microphone hooked up, demonstrating the corrections that need to be made to the dancers to perfect it by Thursday night.
Even though the tone of tech rehearsal is serious, students still enjoy it because of the lively energy.
While students are waiting for their turn on stage at tech rehearsal, they find humor by watching (and secretly filming to post on their private Snapchat stories) their friends’ dances.
When asked about her favorite dance, freshman Matigan Edwards said, “Honors Jazz because it’s fun to watch, and Upper School Period 6 Hip Hop because it has a great song and amazing dancers.”
Freshman Luca Nelson said, “I love seeing all of my friends do their dances. It’s also cool to see people who are actually good.”
Teacher Abigail Reed, who choreographed the 7th-grade trio Halo dance, is new to the dance program this year.
She faced the challenge of choreographing a dance outside of the scheduled rehearsals within the program.
Ms. Reed shared her favorite memory of “Pulling seventh-grade girls in the middle of the school day to come rehearse in random places.”
Ms. Reed also explained how she thinks dance can connect as a metaphor for life: “Something we’ve been trying to emphasize is when it is smooth and flowy versus more sharp and fast.”
Mrs. Metzger loves that dance enables students to use a different part of their brain than the one they use all day to learn subjects.
”Suddenly there’s someone who’s asking your brain to remember to move your left arm and your right foot to this count and find some artistry in it, and it makes your brain work in a completely different way,” she said.
And then there’s the growth that comes when you go from not being able to do the skills to performing the skills well. “It gives them a great sense of accomplishment,” she said. “I think they enjoy showing their friends and family.”
Those in the audience at the concert appreciated the efforts of those on stage. “I really enjoy supporting my friends,” freshman Lauren Nelson, a friend of many dancers, said.
When I spoke with Mrs. Metzger in the week of the concert, she said she thought the concert would be unforgettable because “Lovett Dance was able to remake historical choreography by Jerome Robbins.”
Jerome Robbins is a famous Tony Award-winning director who choreographed choreographed West Side Story and and Fiddler on the Roof, and was was resident choreographer for the New York City Ballet.
Since Mrs. Metzger is an approved repetiteur for the Jerome Robbins fund, she was approved to use some of his famous choreography movements for three Upper School classes.
When asked about how prepared they were to perform, Mrs Metzger says, “Well, if you had asked me at tech rehearsal, I would’ve maybe had a different answer, but I think we’re ready to go.”
