A hush descends over the audience as a synchronized mass of dancers take to the stage and perform an upbeat jazz combination under the flashing red stage lights. The joyful piece is followed by a passionate soloist who gracefully pirouettes across the stage with her embroidered dress billowing out around her, the solo star of a riveting and emotional contemporary piece. 

The “Vertigo” dance concert, which took place on March 23-24 in the theater, highlighted these exemplary performances by Dance 1-4 and Dance Company.

“I love how the theme kind of relates to dance, like being off balance, being dizzy and holding each other up, holding ourselves up, even when we’re on rocky, uneven ground,” dance director and visual and performing arts department chair Samantha Gardner said. “I think there’s a lot of different angles that we could take, whether that’s looking at vertigo as a good thing, a bad thing, a fun thing, so I feel like it was all-encompassing for us and could include lots of different styles and types of dances without being too restrictive.”

Preparations for the concert began in January, right after winter break. This year, the dance concert featured four guest choreographers including Daniel Huynh, Taylor McGuire, Taylor-Anne Murray and Jessica Neves as well as 25 student choreographers. 

“Gravity,” choreographed by Dance Company captains and junior Kate Niho and senior Charlie Tonelli, meshed particularly well with the theme; poignant lines about falling prey to another person’s gravity played in conjunction with a dancer’s despondent descent to the stage floor.  

“It’s always really nice to see the different levels and different types of dance styles,” senior Shefali Sinha said. “I think hip-hop is really fun to watch because there’s so much energy.”

Like any production, this one had its fair share of challenges. The performers faced several obstacles during the choreography process, such as time constraints and routine disagreements between dancers and choreographers, according to Gardner.

“Of course there’s always challenges like different disagreements between choreographers or dancers or myself and Dance Company and all different things, but we all are always able to collectively compromise and move forward for the greater good of the show,” Gardner said. 

Dance Company will perform at the pep rally on May 19 and the dance showcase on May 23.