Spring Concert Review

Angelika Stegmann, Owner of Stegmann's Performing Arts wrote this article reviewing our Spring Concert.

Dancing in A Garden Tale With Squirrels

The parents of the little dancers who performed in this year’s recital “A Garden Tale” showed happy faces while waiting in the lobby. Not only were they excited to finally watch their children dance on stage but they didn’t have to drive the forty minutes to Columbia State Community College to do so.

Thanks to new principal Dr. Todd Campbell, Independence High School had opened their theater to local dance school Tennessee Dance Arts Conservatory, which showed an abundance of little garden critters in 2 performances on May 28 and 29. Nevertheless, before the first dance “Sunrise,” a solo performed by Katie Messina, artistic director Megan White gave out the 2010 awards.

Madison Hopkins, who performed a solo as the red Robin, received the “Student of the Year” award. The “Young Dancer Award” went to Delaney Toale, a Ballet 1 student dancing in “Perfect Petals,” and the “Most Improved” award went to the above-mentioned Katie Messina, who danced an impression as “The Fairy of Light” to live music performed by Doug Smith.

“Little Mousies” were chasing “Hungry Caterpillars and Beautiful Butterflies”; the “Perfect Petals” were followed by the “Bitty Bumble Bees”. Foxes, bunnies, and frogs were all part of the “Garden Tale,” with “Rolling Ivy” letting us take a glimpse into the woods. “Booming Black Widows’, “Fluttering Friends”, “Rocking Robins”, “Rhythmic Wood Peckers”, and “Garden Gnomes” all showed us their dances in various styles such as ballet, tap, jazz, and modern.

When the “Little Squirrel Ditty” tappers were dancing on stage, a bitty bumblebee could not keep her feet still. She shuffled along in the aisle to the music by Louis Jones before the second act concluded with Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake”, danced by girls of Ballet 3. Five swans on pointe began the dance, followed by a short solo of the only adult dancer, Cindy Bellini, and concluded with all swans, now without pointe shoes, in the dramatic climax.

The third act was opened with “Les Sylphides”, whose composer was mistakenly referred as Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky but should have been Frederic Chopin. The creatures of the night, the “Owls”, “Jail House Raccoons”, “Funky Skunks”, and “Blackbirds” finished the recital.

It was disappointing that so many parents left with their Creative Movement dancers after the intermission. It should be a dance school’s obligation to educate their dancers from early age on to appreciate other dancers.

A special mention deserves Gianna Curless, dancing in tap 1, jazz 1 and ballet 1 who stood out, thanks to her stage presence and her clean execution of the technique.


By Angelika Stegmann