Following Sapphire’s virtual spring dance show, “The Bright Side”, LHS Dance Company has reopened the doors for their first live audience since November 2019! They presented a show full of delightful routines with the theme “Life is Sweet”. Mrs. Bree Jansen was the director alongside Sarah Barthel, Lauren Gaspar, and Rachel Reynolds. The show is composed of dancers from the Sapphire Dance team, the LHS dance classes, and students from LHS Theatre helping out with the on stage crew. 

The show was presented throughout two days with a matinee and two night performances at the Civic Auditorium. The shows were on Friday, November 18th at 7:30 pm and Saturday, November 19th at 2:00 & 7:30 pm. To ensure that everyone was being safe, all dancers were masked and separated into the band classroom on the LVMS campus. In accordance to COVID restrictions, the house was only able to be filled up to 50% capacity and audience members were required to keep a mask on throughout the duration of the show. Before the curtains opened, the audience was presented with a pre-show announcement explaining etiquette in regards to cheering for the dancers on stage and flash photography.

Life is Sweet opened up the show with a routine, to the song “Candyman” by Christina Aguilera, fitting in with the theme of being sweet. All of the showcased dances were choreographed by director Bree Jansen, and the dancers of Sapphire, Ashley Campbell, Riley Campbell, Naomi Esqueda, Faith Garcia, Audrey Lopez, Yoselin Lopez, Seryna Malcolm, Maliah Simmons, Isabella Stallworth, and Emily Thao. The advanced dance class also choreographed and performed their own routine to the song, “Candy Shop” by Madonna. The setlist included a range of different genres in their concert including alternative/indie to Korean pop such as, “Sugar” by Maroon 5 and “Gingerbread Man” by Melanie Martinez to “Sour Candy” by BLACKPINK (featuring Lady Gaga) and “Ice Cream” by TOMORROW X TOGETHER. After each performance the crowd applauded and was full of energy in appreciation to the dancers on stage. Opening night was sold out and the audience members had a lively response in support of the dance shows reopening! 

To keep up with the theme of sweets, the set was decorated with candies like peppermints, Tootsie Rolls, lollipops, and other colorful pieces. The lollipops were even used as props in the routine to “Lollipop”, by The Chordettes, choreographed by Yoselin Lopez. All of the set pieces were built by the students of the LHS Technical Theatre and Musical Theatre 2 classes. 

This dance showcase was a huge success overall and had brought joy back to the community after the temporary pauses in everyone’s lives. If you missed the viewing of the concert or would like to re-watch it, check out www.lhsdance.com to find out more information! The program can be accessed at Sapphire’s Instagram account, @lhssapphiredance, and the LHS dance website.