© 2024 Kim Kokich
The End of the Year and Just the Beginning
The audience quickly filed into our CityDance Studio Theater at Strathmore, looking for their seats.They came holding bouquets of flowers…groups of friends, and families, some holding the tiny hands of their small children who were there to see their older siblings take the stage, many for the very first time. The students who performed are in CityDance Consesrvatory’s Young Training Program and they demonstrate selections of what they’ve learned over the past year. Some danced ballet, a core foundation for many other forms of dance. Other students displayed their skills in contemporary movement, some in hip hop, and some performed excerpts of Sri Lankan dance.
And it was more than a typical recital. This concert is how the CityDance Conservatory team introduces its youngest students to the tradition of performance theater, and what that means…what must be learned before costumes are worn, and the lights go down before the curtain rises. They’ve learned how a dancer stands, how to execute the positions and their correct terms. They learn the importance of respect in the classroom, and new ways of listening and counting to music. In short, they experience the entire process of participating in a performance.
The youngest group, around six years old, performed a sequence of ballet moves that precede what they will learn as they progress through the training program. And perhaps, for the first time outside of the classroom, they received applause from the audience.
The hour-long performance included a range of styles, and was interspersed with dancing by the advanced students, a wonderful way to inspire the little ones and show the parents what may be ahead.
