The crowd’s chatter diminished as the lights dimmed in the Ruth Chapman Performing Arts Center at Eastlake High (EHS), as the dance concert began on May 7. This, as well as a previous performance of the same set on May 5, were organized by Bonita Vista High’s (BVH) Get to the Pointe (GTP) dance company and featured BVH’s various dance classes including GTP, Dance 1, Dance 2, International Baccalaureate (IB) Dance and Physical Education (P.E.) Dance.

This concert from GTP is an annual event and its primary objective is to showcase the work of the various dance classes at BVH. GTP, Dance 1, Dance 2, IB Dance and P.E. Dance—taught by Christine Timmons—all performed their respective dances and near the end of the concert, all of the dance classes performed a finale together, ending the concert in spectacular fashion.

“The objective is to showcase the talent of all the things that we were working on the whole year. So every class performed their own dances and then they collaboratively did a final dance together at the end,” Timmons said.

Some performances featured smaller groups while some featured an entire dance class. GTP member and junior Samara Fujarte performed in several performances, notably the 15th performance of the night which was performed by GTP. The song used was “You Should See Me in a Crown” by Billie Eilish and the performance was choreographed by GTP captain and senior Natalie Flores.

“I performed well, but it definitely wasn’t my best. During the second day, I could have done a little more. But the first day, I think I did great,” Fujarte said.

Although many BVH students performed in the concerts, the majority of the audience was made up of parents and family, rather than friends. As a result, Timmons expressed that the audience reactions were a little calm and lackluster, but understands that it is more of a formal setting and loud reactions were not a necessity.

“I don’t like yelling and screaming but it was a little quiet in the audience. But I do think that it’s because a lot of students did not come and watch the show, it was mostly parents and families,” Timmons said.

Despite the concert being performed by BVH students and classes, it was held at EHS’s theater, the Ruth Chapman Performing Arts Center. Timmons mentioned that the reason for this decision was because EHS’s theater can accommodate more people and has better equipment suited for the performances, both on stage and backstage.

“There’s no way our theater] could hold that amount of students on the stage and in the audience. Here, we can accommodate the students with dressing room space while they’re not dancing and there’s also the technical aspects. We have a lighting designer that comes in,” Timmons said. “Even if we had reserved the gym, it doesn’t have the capability of the lighting effects that actually enhance the dances.”

The backstage dressing rooms were helpful to many of the dancers, including GTP co-Captain and senior Valeria Valencia. Being able to change outfits quickly was crucial to keep consistency during the concert and prevent any long waits or delays in between performances.

“I was in 10 dances this year and there’s 20 [in the concert], so I was in half of the dances. There were a lot of quick changes. I even had my best friend help me on the sideline do a quick change really fast. It was really stressful, but it was also fun,” Valencia said.

GTP Public Relations Officer and junior Mia Garcia shares similar views with Valencia. She further expresses that while the dress rehearsal and quick outfit changes were rough, the performances still went well.

“I feel like [the concert] went really well knowing that our dress rehearsal was a little stressful. We had lots of injuries and ‘fallen shoulders,’ but I feel like both shows went pretty good overall with the quick changes and everything,” Garcia said. “For the first show I feel like I did good energy wise, but the second show I feel like I messed up a lot more than the first show. But overall, I feel like both shows went pretty okay.”

In order to prepare for the concert, GTP had to both choreograph and learn dances along with the other dance classes. Valencia states that the dances and performances displayed during the concert were choreographed by both students and Timmons, Valencia explains.

“GTP has been preparing since the beginning of this semester by working on our student choreos or captains dances, our trio, and then our bigger pieces that Timmons choreographs,” Valencia said.

Along with choreographing the dances, there was a lot of other work behind-the-scenes that needed to be done in order to bring the concert to fruition. This ranged from setting up ticket sales to costuming, Timmons explained.

“There’s a lot of prep that comes in. Anything from typing up the and ordering the programs, the tickets, organizing the parent volunteers, one big thing is choreographing many dances. That’s very time consuming as well. Costuming, editing the music; there’s so much that goes into the show,” Timmons said.

For some students, this was the first time performing in front of an audience, as well as the first time dancing on stage. Garcia mentions that the new performers did a great job despite their lack of experience.

“They did really good knowing that most of them don’t have any dance experience. I’m really proud of them to see them go on stage because it’s really nerve-wracking. Overall, I feel that they’re pretty good at handling the stress and everything well,” Garcia said.

There were a lot of performances during the concert and countless moments to be cherished. Fujarte shared her favorite moment from the show, that being the captains’ dance near the end of the show, which featured the GTP captains.

“My favorite moment was watching the captains’ dance at the very end. I definitely teared up a little and so did a lot of other people. But that was my favorite moment because it was so sentimental,” Fujarte said.

The BVH dance classes are a close-knit group of students and dancers alike. Valencia believes that the concert provided the students a chance to express themselves, while also bringing them closer together. Being able to support each other while expressing themselves brought more expression into the art they performed.

“This year we had a lot of new people. We had a lot of great people leave, but those who stayed grew together as one rather than apart. I think that’s our biggest success, being there for each other, always communicating really well and being a team rather than groups of people,” Valencia said.