Dance academy doubles the fun with two spring shows

Sisters Dance Academy students took fans on a musical journey down through the ages and back for the spring recital with 150 dancers aged 3 to 18, performing ballet, tap, hip-hop and contemporary dance on Saturday afternoon and evening in the Sisters High School Auditorium.

This was the first time Sisters Dance Academy offered two showtimes for a recital.

"Dancing Through Time" was the theme for this year's recital, and each performance represented an era of time.

"We are really excited to have grown to the point to be able to have two performances," said Lonnie Liddell, director of Sisters Dance Academy.

Along with two shows there were two raffles and two bake sales. All donations benefitted Sisters Dance Academy's scholarship program.

The academy's choreographers - Sharri Bertagna, Jordi Weaver, Shannon Abero, Tiffany Lynn Bell, Kayla Williams and Lonnie Liddell - organized and orchestrated 40 phenomenal dance performances to a near-full house during both shows.

"Putting this recital together has been such a fun experience for everyone. The choreographers reached back through time trying to figure out how the dancers would represent each era with dance styles and clothing types," Liddell said. "It was a collaborative process to make this work for all the dancers."

The opening performance depicted dancers representing moving parts of a clock. A huge projection of a clock behind the dancers gave the audience an imagery of time moving along.

"The slideshow and digital imagery for our recital was orchestrated by Ann Alisa Duerden, who is very instrumental for the entire Dance Academy," Liddell said.

For most performances, the digital imagery of a clock remained behind the dancers while the clock parts moved in between the acts to give the illusion of time accelerating.

The audience was charmed back in time to the 1930s, when six little Shirley Temple look-a-likes danced ballet to the 1934 hit song "On the Good Ship Lollipop," which was the signature song of the child actress.

"Mona Lisa," a lyrical ballet dance number, represented the year 1503 and portrayed six little female Leonardo da Vincis, equipped with palettes, getting ready to paint the renaissance portrait Mona Lisa. The song of the same name made popular by Nat King Cole motivated the ballerinas into action.

The audience went wild when the Junior Ensemble danced to the number "Coffee in a Cardboard Cup," a popular tune from "70, Girls, 70," a Broadway musical that opened in 1971, the same year that Starbucks opened its first coffee shop serving coffee in a cardboard cup.

The Wild West era came to life through dance on stage when two little cowboys stepped out on stage for a showdown joined by 10 little hip-hopping cowgirls in the number "Wild Wild West."

The performers showed off their creativity as they danced through a variety of different eras.

The Spring Recital showcased all of the hard work that the dancers and instructors had put in over the course of six months.