Over the May 26-27 weekend, the stage of the Juneau-Douglas High School auditorium was transformed by an array of dancers into what some in the audience called, \u201ca magical world.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Juneau Dance Theatre\u2019s (JDT) 2017 Spring Showcase brought to life a wide range of performances including excerpts from \u201cSwan Lake,\u201d George Balanchie\u2019s \u201cTchaikovsky Pas De Deux,\u201d choreography by Ballet Master of the Pennsylvania Regional Ballet Laszlo Berdo and a piece crafted entirely by JDT dancers in their choreography workshop class. There was also an appearance made by electric violinist Noatak Post, the recent winner of \u201cJuneau\u2019s Got Talent,\u201d who JDT Artistic Director Zachary Hench said in a press release that Post \u201cdazzled us with his electric violin performance in March.\u201d<\/p>\n
The JDT\u2019s promise to begin the program on a vibrant and light note was accomplished by the 20 dancers who filled the stage and performed \u201cWaltz of the Hours\u201d from Coppelia, choreographed by Hench.<\/p>\n
Immediately following, advanced dancers Jillian Anderson and Anna McDowell assisted six of the younger beginning students in an adorable performance of \u201cSingin\u2019 in the Rain\u201d complete with spinning umbrellas and kids wearing colorful rain boots.<\/p>\n
Dancers dressed as butterflies from a midsummer night\u2019s dream made an appearance in an assortment of wings. All 38 of the dancers that performed in \u201cScherzo\u201d worked together sharing the stage and made each of their movements with a purpose so that the choreography fit and flowed together.<\/p>\n
All of the dancers in Ballet 2A and Ballet 2B executed all their moves to music from Disney for Ballet Class all while wearing sparkling pink costumes. One of the dancers mentioned that the promenade was the most difficult move of this performance for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cSunset Chronology\u201d performed by Alannah Johnson, Anna McDowell, Brimley Olliff Jackson Rubenstein and Jennifer Seely, and choreographed by Alisha Falberg took the program into the contemporary. A red background set the stage for the dancers who performed this piece that was filled with drama and emotion.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce in a Blue Moon\u201d was a crowd favorite that had been choreographed by the students from JDT choreography workshop class that told the story of a toy shop whose inhabitants came to life. Ballerina, porcelain, paper and rag dolls as well as marionettes were easily discernible from the other, playing their parts well. Even those dancers that didn\u2019t participate in this piece said it was their favorite out of all the performances.<\/p>\n
After the intermission \u201cFairies\u201d from The Sleeping Beauty was performed.<\/p>\n
Next was an excerpt from Tschaikovsky \u201cPas de Deux.\u201d JDT\u2019s Executive Director Julie Diana said in statement: \u201cIt\u2019s one of my favorite solos. The choreography is dynamic and quick, and requires the dancer to take risks. We are thrilled to share this Balanchine gem with Juneau audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTry to Be\u201d choreographed by Laszlo Berdo was a light piece that had a happy air to it, created by the music and the smiles on the faces of all the participating dancers.<\/p>\n
\u201cBreathe\u201d was an emotional a piece choreographed by seventeen-year-old JDT student McDowell. McDowell said in the program, \u201cDancing at JDT is amazing because everyone is so supportive and encouraging. I feel comfortable expressing myself artistically because of the accepting environment in the studio.\u201d<\/p>\n
Post then performed \u201cPachelbel\u2019s Canon\u201d single handedly in his own original fashion on his electric violin.<\/p>\n
The program was concluded with excerpts from Act II of \u201cSwan Lake\u201d with advanced dancer Brimley Olliff playing Odette the Swan Queen and guest artist Nathan Buendia dancing as Prince Siegfried. The story was told with help from dancers who played the graceful swans.<\/p>\n
Hench said, \u201cthe advanced dancers have been practicing for the Spring Showcase every single day for the past three months.\u201d All the dancers are required to not only learn their own routine for the piece but also all the other dancers parts as well.<\/p>\n
Diana said that JDT students become a family from the amount of time spent practicing. Hench encouraged aspiring dancer to \u201ckeep at it!\u201d and \u201ceven though it may feel like you\u2019re sacrificing a lot (by) giving up free time to practice in the studio, stay determined. It will be worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Over the May 26-27 weekend, the stage of the Juneau-Douglas High School auditorium was transformed by an array of dancers into what some in the audience called, \u201ca magical world.\u201d The Juneau Dance Theatre\u2019s (JDT) 2017 Spring Showcase brought to life a wide range of performances including excerpts from \u201cSwan Lake,\u201d George Balanchie\u2019s \u201cTchaikovsky Pas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":25281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[74],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-25280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","tag-arts-and-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25280"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=25280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}