The All School Dance Concert and the Evening of Dance premiered on April 30th and May 1st, and showcased a combination of choreography from guest artists, students and teachers, all through pre recorded segments over Vimeo.
The All School Dance concert, which is open to all students, has been rehearsing since December, when it normally would have premiered, and is being directed by Performing Arts Instructor Holly Rothschild. The Evening of Dance, which is the showcase for Marlborough’s audition only Dance Dimensions company, started rehearsals in September. Many of the rehearsals have been on Zoom. However, there were some rehearsals over Facetime between students, like Sophia ’23 and Anabel ’23, who were a part of the All School Dance Concert and choreographed their own pieces.
“Some huge challenges are both syncing up with the choreography you know, learning, teaching each other different moves and trying to be in sync is super difficult online,” Sophia said.
For the All School Dance Concert, some of the student choreographed pieces were filmed at home, but the remainder of the pieces were filmed around campus. The Evening of Dance was all filmed at the Alumni Gardens, with a six foot distance and masks. With the help of guest artist Guzman Rosado Nosti, a dancer and dance filmmaker, students, like Nina ’22 who choreographed a piece for the Evening of Dance, worked to put dance on film.
“We took multiple takes and focused on specific sections to highlight that our videographer and editor put together,” Nina said, “He [Nosti] did a great job tying the whole concert together.”
Although Covid-19 influenced the show, it was still overcome by the companies. Jamal Wade, a dancer, choreographer and guest artist choreographed a piece called “Rona Rebels,” which was influenced by how teens were affected by the pandemic for the All School Dance Concert. However, for Wade, filming on campus was the best part of the process.
“Seeing them get to actually be around each other in person; that was the best part, regardless of if we got all the shots,” Wade said.
