A constellation of performers from the Coast Academy of Dance delivered a high-energy showcase over four successive shows at the Raven’s Cry Theatre in Sechelt last weekend.
Dancing With the Stars telescoped the academy’s 250-member company of youth and adult dancers into a sparkling two-hour production that included 40 unique acts.
“Who are the stars? Every one of the dancers is a star,” said studio owner Julie Izad. “And what impressed me most about this show is the creativity that our choreographers and dancers have brought to the stage. The choreography of every piece is original, with everything developed fresh over the course of this year.”
Coast Academy’s competitive team showed off moves that earned the group a studio excellence award at the Shine Dance Festival, held in Burnaby in March. The academy also earned a studio spirit award at the Star Talent competition in May, on top of numerous wins for solo and ensemble performances.
A celestial theme was woven throughout the program, with garland-topped junior and pointe ballet dancers performing Rewrite the Stars and a breathtaking display by intermediate acrobatic performers in Dancing in the Stars.
The ethereal performance of Lift Me Up, choreographed by studio manager and instructor Christina Darwin, featured three dancers who this year completed examinations with one of the world’s leading dance examination boards. Brontë Coyle, Lorelle Evered and Clover McGeachy satisfied the requirements of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing. Each performed a solo work to mark her graduation. Evered choreographed her own solo, Maybe I’ve Done Enough.
In Sushi, the platinum jazz class performed a saucy homage to the Japanese staple while costumed in rice-white fabric accented by a nori-tinted stripe. The palette changed with the appearance of yellow-sequinned bodysuits for an infectious performance of Catch a Groove, danced by the corps of pre-competitive acrobatic dancers.
Transformation was a recurring theme. The award-winning Adult Competitive Crew reprised its performance of the FUTURE is now, with rapid-fire costume changes and dancer Rick Kobus strutting to the footlights clad in a pneumatic outfit. To perform Breakfast at Tiffany’s, dancers from the studio’s ballet foundation program donned black gloves and pearls.
The show included the group’s rendition of Willkommen, a seductive salute to cabaret culture. In Ease On Down the Road, Dorothy and her Emerald City-bound companions embodied the blithe funk of the 1978 movie The Wiz.
The competitive acrobatics team demonstrated a move in Deception that required dancers, formed in a circle with arms linked, to rise and fall in turn. Performers regularly transferred momentum with expert ease, as with the human sine wave in the contemporary tour de force titled A Quiet Life. Even as its emotional fervor faded, the show’s tone shifted again into high-flying jazz antics of 70’s Stars.
Coast Academy honoured two departing instructors, Megan Doyle and Lorelle Evered (who herself appeared in almost a dozen acts during Dancing With the Stars). Both Doyle and Evered began their training with the studio at the age of three.
The Sechelt-based studio will run a number of summer camps until classes resume in September.