A round of applause echoed through the theater as audience members who attended Archer’s Night of Dance production cheered for the graduating senior class of dancers. Archer dancers prepared for the annual Night of Dance performance at the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage Feb. 28-March 2 throughout the year. Students learned choreography from guest choreographers, Archer faculty and student choreographers.
Led by Artistic Director Andrea Locke, Night of Dance included aerial numbers, as well as lyrical, hip-hop and cultural dances. All dances were centered around the theme “Dreamscape,” which focused on the different stages of dreams, as well as the most common dreams people have.
Once Locke decided on the dreams to include, choreographers were assigned a dream that best fit the style of dance they enjoyed creating movement to. Locke said that the process for connecting dances to dreams to choreographers was straightforward and simple.
“We really thought about that, and that’s why the first half is more external,” Locke said. “[The second half] included the darker [dreams], in terms of the kind of dreams that are lucid and you find yourself entwined with.”
Two weeks before the show, students started their tech week rehearsals at Archer, before moving to the theater the week before the show. Locke said during the rehearsals dancers drilled the choreography and spacing of each dance to prevent confusion.
“That gives the dancers more opportunity,” Locke said, “through not just [practicing] their dances, but more experiencing the movement that’s needed before we get on the stage.”
This performance was freshman Ismarcis Ponce-Cruz’s fourth annual Night of Dance. Ponce-Cruz said she has experienced many changes with tech week rehearsals and performances.
“I would say [the performance] has been such a successful production, and the community makes you feel welcomed and loved,” Ponce-Cruz said. “I’ve seen [Night of Dance] evolve a lot from the different genres of dance and how each student demonstrates their hard work.”
Freshman Juliet Carter’s first Night of Dance was this year, and she said she experienced the community bonding from tech rehearsals that she expected from her first dance class at Archer.
“Honestly, just getting to be with everyone for such a long period of time [is good],” Carter said. “I got close with people that I didn’t even know existed.”
During tech week, 135 dancers are backstage for sometimes hours on end. The tech crew, Archer 10th-12th graders, helped organize and manage dressing rooms, backstage and side of stage areas. Ponce-Cruz said that they were helpful to all students, including herself.
“There’s lots going on, but with tech crew, they help us stay a bit more organized,” Ponce-Cruz said. “[They] let us know when it’s our time to dance and perform.”
The dressing rooms at the theater provide a community within a larger community, creating inter-grade connections. Carter said she also enjoyed bonding with the grade as a whole, rather than just spending time with her friends.
“I thought I’d just be hanging out with people I was closer with,” Carter said. “But, I was hanging out with everybody as a whole, and that was really nice.”
Although other Archer productions take place on campus, students in Night of Dance perform at a professional theater and learn from adult stage crew members. Locke said the dancers gain experience for possible future careers.
“I think it’s a learning process. The young girls don’t understand [the opportunity] that they’re being given,” Locke said. “They gain a sense of integrity about the art of dance.”
