Students Take the Stage in the Upper School Dance Concert

On May 8, the Upper School Dance Ensemble held its annual performance in the Caplin Theater. The performance featured two Sidwell Middle School and eight Upper School students. Dance Ensemble, which is offered as a PE course during the fall, winter and spring, presented work from all three trimesters, including pieces that dancers choreographed themselves.

“I really like working here because I’m given a lot of independence,” Upper School Movement Teacher Danielle Madrid said. Madrid, who joined Sidwell in 2023, teaches Dance Ensemble and Yoga in the Upper School, as well as Movement and Mindfulness in the Middle School.

“The students have been super curious and creative in a way that I don’t always find in other places,” Madrid said. “A lot of my program is about giving students the tools to choreograph on their own, whether it’s a whole dance or a short eight-count of movement. I find here that when I give students that prompt, they just take it and run with it.”

Six of the nine dances were student-choreographed, including one piece choreographed and performed by eighth graders Livia Chen and Maya Ruben. Each student choreographer prepared a proposal that described the song they intended to use, the theme of their dance and the number of dancers they would include. 

“We have a lot of feedback embedded in class,” Madrid explained. “The student will show what they’ve done that day, and then as a group we’ll provide feedback for them.”

Senior Ashika Agrawal, who participated in Dance Ensemble during the winter and spring trimesters, described the experience as “absolutely exhilarating.”

“I have acted on the stage and performed, but never in something like the dance show, where we literally had to let only our movements speak for themselves,” Agrawal said. 

Agrawal’s favorite dance was “Funky Funky,” the show’s final number. “It was really fun to do something so upbeat, and it also included everyone in the dance class and a couple of middle schoolers,” Agrawal said. “I think it was a great way to end the show.”

In addition to performing, Agrawal also choreographed a piece for the first time. “It was a lot of learning from other people choreographing and just experimenting,” Agrawal explained. “I didn’t know whether I should have an exact sequence of moves planned which I would explain to the dancers, or whether I should let them influence me in the moment. In the end, I did a combination of both.”

Madrid encouraged students who were initially hesitant to choreograph to “go for it.” “The point of this class is to figure it out, not to come in being an amazing choreographer,” she said, adding that the students’ success “speaks to how supportive everybody in our class was to the choreographers.”

Sophomore John Thomas also participated in the Dance Ensemble during the winter and spring trimesters. His favorite number was “Cold Feets,” a song he had previously performed with senior Leo Schuck in “The Drowsy Chaperone,” Sidwell’s spring musical. Unlike in the musical, however, the pair danced in tap shoes.

“[The shoes] added a whole new dimension of sound, rhythm and style which made that performance of Cold Feets the best yet in my opinion, and a great way to do the dance for the last time,” Thomas said.

Revisiting the number came with new challenges: “I was so used to singing the song that I had to keep myself from mouthing the words,” Thomas said. “Unlike in the musical, we didn’t have a live band, so we had to use the Broadway cast recording.” Still, having acted out the scene before, he found the facial expressions came naturally.

In the winter trimester, Thomas co-choreographed a piece with three classmates. “Ms. Madrid tasked us with creating dances inspired by three movement-related words,” he said. 

Working in pairs, each group choreographed their chosen song and then performed their dance to the other group’s song. All four students collaborated to merge their pieces into one dance, which they performed in the spring concert.

“I found choreographing ultimately rather difficult because it was hard to come up with interesting movements that fit with the theme and the music,” Thomas said. 

Both Agrawal and Thomas encouraged students interested in dance to join the Dance Ensemble. “I was very hesitant to join dance all of high school because it’s a larger time commitment and I didn’t know what to expect. If anything, I regret waiting so long,” Agrawal said. Agrawal added that because Dance Ensemble is offered each trimester, the class is a low-stakes commitment.

“Ms. Madrid is a phenomenal teacher, and the class gives you a lot of creative freedom while educating you on the principles of dance,” Thomas said. “If you are intimidated by seeing really talented dancers like I was before joining, know that the class is intended for dancers of all skill levels … like me, you’ll probably come out feeling much more confident and prouder of your dancing abilities.”