How do you dance the representation of Energy? The group of students portraying “Energy” elected to use sharp movements, slowing and speeding their pace, and even used the classic jazz hands.  The students in Dance Class first assignment was to create pieces based on a word given to them. The words were “energy,” “time,” “body,” “relationships,” and “space.”

The dancers were put into groups based on what level in the class they were. Groups had a mix of advanced, intermediate, and beginner dancers. Groups were given posters with their word written on it, surrounding the word the dancers added words that help show and express their word. 

The group that was assigned “body” took their word to a whole new level. They used their bodies to create their music and even used the other students to help create the background of their piece. They used snaps, claps, and stomps to help create their sound. This style of dance is called body percussion. 

Body percussion can be performed with tap to help create more sounds. Many dancers don’t know much about body percussion, this is because it’s not danced at competition. 

“We chose to create our dance based on body percussion because it’s a very underrated style of dance, as most dancers chose styles like jazz, lyrical, and hip hop. We had to think outside of the box in order to truly capture the essence of the body,” said Avé Boghassian-James, Class of 2020.

Dakota Wheat, Class of 2022 said, “Creating a dance based off of a word was hard because there were limited options of songs and moves to pick, this activity forced us to think outside the box and use our creativity to build the dance.” 

After each group performed the audience stated how that group was able to show and perform their word.

The dancers have started to prepare for their showcase in May. Auditions for each dance will be held, allowing choreographers to see who they want in their dance. Dancers in the intermediate and advance class are required to create 2 dances that will be performed in the showcase. The theme of the showcase is “The Language of Dance.” 

The showcase is May 27. 

They will also perform at the All County Dance Showcase at Governor Thomas Johnson on April 29.