The School of Dance and Music (SDM) brought competition season one step closer with a showcase at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center. The event took place on March 8 and featured company dancers from different levels performing their finalized routines in styles such as jazz and hip-hop. The showcase is meant to give friends and family a preview of the dances that they have spent months preparing before heading into competition on March 14. Sophomore Audrey Arminio is one of the company dancers who performed three dances.
“It’s a showcase of all the competition dances so that parents and loved ones can see what we’ve been working on,” said Arminio. “It’s also for us [dancers] to get some practice on stage before we compete in front of judges.”
For many dancers, the showcase represents the culmination of a long rehearsal process that begins months before the performance. Company dancers typically audition in late spring, begin choreography in the fall and spend the following months refining routines before competition season begins. According to Arminio, dancers in the advanced or elite competition level often commit more time to rehearsals each week.
“In dance, there’s usually three levels — novice, intermediate, and advanced or elite. It’s usually based on how many hours you dance per week. For example, I dance around 20 hours a week, and I’m at the elite level,” Arminio said.
Freshman Candance Lee, who’s also at the elite level, says that performing in front of a live audience before judges provides a valuable experience for the dancers, who want to refine their performances before they compete.
“[The showcase] helps me because I get to perform my dance in front of an audience while being under pressure to perform well,” Lee said. “The stage is much different than a regular room, and we also have our hair and makeup done, so it feels more like the real thing.”
During the show, the dancers performed multiple group routines choreographed by different instructors. For Arminio, her favorite dances are the emotional ones that tell vast and detailed stories through intricate, drawn-out movements and props that dancers can easily move around the stage.
“We had different teachers choreograph each dance, so it’s always fun to see how the styles are different. This year, I had props in all of the three dances that I was in,” said Arminio. “One, for example, was a really large slide that we used as a set piece. In another, we all had our own chairs and another had a notebook that we passed around. The props really change how the choreography works and how the message of the dance comes around.”
Behind the scenes, however, the experience can be more hectic than actually performing. According to Lee, dancers often perform several routines in one show, requiring quick changes and new hair and makeup that can lead to chaos and pressure backstage.
“There’s a lot of people backstage getting ready. If you have multiple pieces, you have to rush to change your hair and makeup. I had to switch my hairstyle multiple times as well as my makeup with different colors of lipstick,” Lee said.
Despite the busy schedule and constant rehearsals after school and on the weekend, both Arminio and Lee agree that performing as a teen dancer in front of an audience is one of the most rewarding aspects of competition dance.
“I love dancing with a team because I love watching all my teammates dance,” Arminio said. “They’re all so talented. Everyone has different strengths, and it’s always so rewarding to see how those skills come together in a group performance.”
As the dancers move into competition season, many say their focus is not only on placements but on improvement and growth. The showcase allows them to see how their routines perform on stage and make final adjustments.
“Our goal is to connect more as a group through our performances and just keep improving as much as we can,” Lee said. “We want to make sure that everything is clean and that we’re performing for ourselves, not just the judges.”
For Arminio, the months of preparation and hours of rehearsal ultimately come down to one message that she hopes audiences will take away from the showcase and all future performances that SDM broadcasts.
“I want people to understand how hard dancers work,” Arminio said, “Dance can look easy on stage, but, in my opinion, it’s one of the hardest things to do because you have to do really complicated and technical movements and still make them look effortless. All the people in the showcase worked so hard to make the show what it was.”
