The hard work of Dance in Common staff and students culminated in a year-end show Friday and Saturday at the Gibraltar Room in Williams Lake.
Titled “This is Me,” the show was about "art in motion, each dancer’s journey and who they are at the core," said MC Dena Baumann as she introduced the show Saturday night.
With almost 100 dancers varying in ages and stages, the show displayed unique talent, beautiful colours and interpretations of a theme. From the opening number - Jack in the Box Escapes - artfully portrayed by Emma Boehm and Makenna Manarin - the audience settled in to expect some fun and some creativity.
There was something for everyone as the dancers moved through the various genres of ballet, pointe, contemporary, Latin, creative, jazz, hip-hop and interpretive. Many of them danced in several numbers.
One of the senior dancers was injured on Friday evening, so studio owner and operator Corrine Stromsten filled her shoes a few times or the dancers adapted, including Angelica Hyde who danced a duet on her own titled Amelia.
As she neared the end of the piece, Angelica held back the tears and then mouthed “this is for you,” to the injured dancer who was sitting in the front row.
Another poignant moment was a solo performed by Peyton Bos, one of the dancers graduating from high school this year. Her piece, Missing Me, was dedicated to her father Mike Bos who unexpectedly died in February of this year.
Choreographed to Interstellar Piano and Violin Version by Hans Zimmerman, the dance featured a display of intense emotions coupled with lyrical movements by Peyton.
Peyton's dance closed the first half the show and during the intermission Peyton's mom, Alison Bos, told the Tribune the dance was based on a video from Christmas time during an open house at Dance in Common. Peyton and Mike danced together and someone sent it to Alison because she was at her work’s Christmas Party.
As it was the final evening Saturday, Stromsten took time to thank her student teachers and volunteers and present her graduating students with parting gifts.
Once the thank yous were completed, a young dancer in the front hollered that Ms. Corrine hadn’t given herself a gift.
Wiping away tears, Stromsten smiled and said ‘you are all my gift,’ which then inspired an impromptu giant hug with all the students.
