Dance through the decades

• Image

Burn the Floor, Diversity in Dance students hold a pose during rehearsal Thursday in the studio.

Talk about it

Burn the Floor, Diversity in Dance will showcase its dancers in a recital featuring the top songs from the 1950s to the present.

The performance is at 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 18, in Trinity High School Auditorium.

“This is for the whole community,” said Director Nikki St. John. “We want everyone who loves music to come. These kids have worked really hard.”

The show’s name is appropriately titled “Decades.”

“It’s all the oldies everybody likes — Elvis, Elton John — we narrowed them down and got the best of the best,” she said.

More than 100 students will participate in the recital.

St. John considers the recital as a way for the students to give back to the community.

“This is a great recital — it showcases our very best work and it’s what they worked toward all year,” she said.

St. John choreographed the songs and has matched costumes to the songs.

“For example, when the girls do “Mustang Sally,” their costumes are race-car oriented,” she said.

Josh Nichols serves as the show’s director.

“My job is to oversee the whole process,” said Nichols. “Nikki has got the choreography down. I have a person who’s doing the lighting. Really, I’m there to make sure everybody is in the right places — to minimize any confusion with the transitions.”

Observing the rehearsals, Nichols added, “It’s going to be fun to be taken back to the old music. A lot of the dances have something unique. Some are the small kids, other ones are competition pieces.”

“My work comes the two days of rehearsals. I pull everything together at the last minute,” he said.

Dancer Bree Fandrich is looking forward to the recital, but it’s still a bittersweet time. As a Dickinson High School graduate, she said, “I’m excited, but sad because this is the last time I’ll be with my teammates and they mean a lot to me.”

The dancers began rehearsing last summer for this performance.

“We have the dances mostly learned, but now we’re making them perfect,” she said.

Dancer Liz Brown gives credit to their coach.

“She’s everything you want in a dance coach,” she said. “She’s really encouraging. She’ll say, ‘I know you can do this or I wouldn’t have choreographed these dances.’”

Brown added, “The recital is going to be really fun. We have an awesome opening number and the closing number is awesome as well.”

St. John encourages the purchase of advance tickets to reduce long lines at the door. Tickets are $15 for ages 11 and older, $10 for ages 6-10 and free for ages 5 and younger.

They are available at the dance studio, 40 First Ave. W. (Park Square Mall), ESP Computers and Software and SBM .

Tags: lifestyles