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Dance Showcase starts Thursday

Annual student-run concert focuses on variety, creativity

Margaret Hair
Steamboat Springs High School student Alisha Repollo tips her hat while rehearsing the We Like it Loud dance piece Tuesday at the high school in preparation for the 14th annual Dance Showcase. Performances are at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.
Matt Stensland

If you go

What: “Somnium,” the 14th annual Steamboat Springs High School Dance Showcase

When: 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday

Where: Steamboat Springs High School auditorium

Cost: $8 for students, $10 for adults, $12 for reserved seating; advanced tickets available at All That Jazz and the high school office

Call: 879-1562

If you go

What: “Somnium,” the 14th annual Steamboat Springs High School Dance Showcase

When: 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday

Where: Steamboat Springs High School auditorium



Cost: $8 for students, $10 for adults, $12 for reserved seating; advanced tickets available at All That Jazz and the high school office

Call: 879-1562



Steamboat Springs High School seniors Hannah Ram­irez and Lexi Pappas have been dancing for as long as they can remember.

When they started their freshman year, the girls set the same goal: to direct the high school’s annual dance concert before they graduated. Both students met their mark, and for the past several months, they’ve worked with about 80 high school students to put together the 14th edition of a massive annual production.

“Somnium,” the 14th annual Steamboat Springs High School Dance Showcase, opens at 7 p.m. Thursday in the high school auditorium. Tickets are $8 for students, $10 for the general public and $12 for reserved seating.

On Tuesday afternoon, the cast, crew and directing and producing teams worked through dances with lights and music, getting through any final kinks before the show opens Thursday. Stud­ents started rehearsing for the annual student-directed, student-run, student-choreographed and student-cast concert in October, Ramirez said.

“All the girls have been working super hard, and we think this is probably one of the best years of Showcase we’ve ever had,” she said.

The styles of dance included in the show “vary hugely,” Ramirez said. Bollywood, belly dance, modern, African, 1980s aerobic workout and country steps are included in the 17-piece, two-hour program.

“There are no two dances that are alike in this performance,” Pappas said.

The “Somnium” title came up when the directors noticed a dreamlike quality in several pieces presented during auditions, Pappas and Ramirez said. “Somnium” is Latin for “the dream.”

“People are definitely thinking a lot more outside of the box and wanting to create something appealing to all types of audiences,” Ra­mirez said.

The directing team said they made an effort this year to recruit all levels of dancers, and there are several girls in the cast who had not danced before, Ramirez said. Every student who auditioned for the show was cast in at least one piece, and directors gave each girl a chance to be in two pieces if they wanted, she said.

“We wanted to make this worthwhile for everybody,” she said.

Dance Show­case leadership teams have worked to garner community support and make the annual concert friendly for all audiences during the past few years, Ramirez said.

“The audience varies … from little girls who are aspiring dancers all the way up to grandparents and older people who love watching dance shows. And high school boys — it’s definitely one of their favorites to come and watch,” Ramirez said.

This year’s leadership team also made an effort to involve first-year students, taking a trip to Steamboat Springs Middle School last spring to talk with eighth-graders about the project and touching base with those students when they got to the high school this fall, Pappas said.

Seniors Ally Wetzler and Cha­rlotte Letson are the producers of this year’s show. In that role, the students coordinated fun­ding, advertising and other logistical pieces of the show’s three-night run and months-long preparation. The program gives everyone involved an opportunity to showcase his or her talents, Pappas said.

“It’s a cool school program because not everybody is a football player or a ski racer, so it kind of gives kids who aren’t involved in those things a chance to shine,” she said.


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