Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Students tap their feet to the beat. When you hear taps you know a masterpiece is being made. The Orchesis students choreographed their own dances and performed them on May 3.
“I came up with the idea of Orchesis because they did it at other high schools, and then I came here and I reopened it because they didn’t have it before,” Kaitlyn Polakovic, dance teacher, said.
Students who choose to choreograph a dance. They make the dance, choose the music, and even pick the costumes. The students in Orchesis are excited about being a part of the dance club and putting on a performance.
“The first time I saw my dance come to life, the first time I watched the group do my choreography and I was like I’m doing something right. That was like a really cool moment to have,” Brooke Plowman, senior, said.
The Orchesis students completed the season with a fantastic show and really showed off their skills.
“I thought the show went a lot better than expected. I was scared for the show at first and then we did it and I felt a lot better and I feel like we all did a great job,” Harley Piekosz, junior, said.
Orchesis is a great way to meet new people who have the same interests. The students believe there is a great bond between everyone.
“I feel like we work better together. We are always trying to help everyone understand the choreography,” Piekosz said.
Orchesis is not just for students who know how to dance, it is for everyone. Students who do not know how to dance can join to learn the basics.
“Orchesis is geared towards everybody. The dance team you need to have a specific set of skills in order to be on that team. In Orchesis, everything we do is fundraised,” Polakovic said. “So, essentially the difference between the two is that if you’re on the dance team you’re competing against other high school dance teams, and then in Orchesis, we just do one performance.”
Some of the dances the students do for the performance are Jazz, Hip Hop, Tap, and Contemporary. Things are not always easy, but the students still enjoy doing it no matter the challenges that lie ahead.
“Sometimes the practices are long and sometimes I don’t really feel motivated to come, but I pushed through. They rely on me to come and help improve the show,” Shaylah Johnson, senior, said.
Just because there are challenges does not mean all the students’ hard work does not pay off. The students feel accomplished when they know they can create something of their own. Orchesis students believe it is a great activity to do and that other students should experience it.
“Give it a shot! There’s a lot of good team building experience that can be obtained, plus you get the opportunity to be a part of a fantastic show,” Jacqueline Casillas, junior, said.
