Gallery • 10 Photos

Aubrey Hall

Tyler Doherty (9) and Rhiannon Roszman (12) dance with one another. The two play love interests set up by Hayley Hamblin (12) and Caleb Hall's (11) characters.

On the eve of Thursday, January seventh, all signs were pointing to a three-day weekend for MSHS students and teachers. Though many had their fingers crossed, one group of students who may not have been so thrilled at the idea were Ms. Berry’s first semester dance class, who had been working since late September on their winter recital, which was set to take place the following night. However, as staff and students rolled into school the next morning, things were looking up for the performers. It seemed that the show would, in fact, go on.

That night, at 6:00 p.m. at the district auditorium, parents and friends of the dancers gathered to watch months of hard work come together in a single, hour-long performance.

The recital was based loosely on the novel Emma by Jane Austen, and contained themes of young love and heartbreak. At the beginning of the piece, Emma, played by Hayley Hamblin (12) does not want to be in a relationship, and instead enjoys setting her friends up with one another. One of the matches that she tries to create is between a character played by Ethan Bennett (12), and Hadley, played by Vivienne Kreidel-Lincoln (12). Emma later discovers that Bennett’s character’s interest lies not with Hadley, but with her, leading to friction between Hadley and Emma. In the end, Bennett and Kreidel-Lincoln’s characters fall for one another, and Emma discovers that she is in love with a character played by Caleb Hall (11).

The performers ranged in age and experience, but were all incorporated into the show. Caleb Hall (11) who played the love interest of Emma and had a major role in the piece, went into the class with minimal experience. “I had never taken an official dance class before this year,” said Hall, “But I have always tried to learn from watching videos and just doing what comes natural.”

Originally, the class had planned to solely select songs by Adam Levine or Maroon 5, but after having encountered difficulty finding songs by the artist that fit their storyline, students sent song suggestions to their teacher, Nicole Berry, who made the decision of whether or not to include them. Though Berry also did the vast majority of the choreography for the piece, students were encouraged to help her in the process.

At the end of the show, proceeding the curtain call, a bouquet was given to Berry on behalf of the class, to thank her for her hard work. It was presented to her by Vivienne Kreidel-Lincoln (12), who has known Berry for the past eight years.

Upon leaving the theatre, the students had given a performance that reflected the months of work they had put into creating it.