Archer students have many opportunities to express and challenge themselves through movement and art. They can join sports, theater and Night of Dance, and can participate in orchestra, choir and a plethora of visual arts classes to grow as artists. Distinct from these options, Festival of Dance annually celebrates and showcases dances that are entirely student-choreographed. The festival was held in the courtyard Wednesday, May 7.
Students in Dance Company choreograph dances for their entire class — they can select small groups or just one partner to perform their dance. The festival showcased 18 dances from eighth through 12th grade students, in styles including hip hop, ballet and contemporary. Senior Lily Poon performed a solo dance titled “Freefall,” set to the song “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims. She had originally choreographed for Night of Dance but was unable to perform due to sickness.
“The most challenging part for me, specifically — especially in choreographing a dance like this, where it’s so emotion-driven — is that I always am trying to have it be relatable to the audience … because, the thing is, I try to make my choreography such a direct reflection of how I’m feeling inside,” Poon said. “When I feel hurt or anger or something, I can feel it physically in my heart. So I try to have [the dance] relate to my heart in some way, so it’s hard to choreograph especially when you have those intense moments of — these free-fall feelings are so short … this emotion is always going to hit different every time, so it’s always going to be a different portrayal of what I’m feeling.”
While only some of the proposed dances are selected to be performed in the festival, Ava Binder (’27), a student in Dance Company II, said all students in Dance Company get to choreograph 30 seconds of a dance and show it to their class. The class then votes to decide which dances they will learn for the festival.
“I would say my favorite part of Festival of Dance is … the community, bonding over a shared experience of ‘Oh my God, how did they do that?'” Binder said. “I just like watching everyone’s reactions and seeing other people’s dances because everyone’s just super talented … it’s just a little nerve-wracking right before you go up in front of your school. I feel like that’s kind of a shared experience for everybody.”
Junior Wynter Perrineau said she usually watches Festival of Dance because it takes place in the courtyard and is accessible. She said she was impressed by many of the dances, and Poon’s stood out as a favorite.
“I thought it was really beautiful, I thought all the dances were really interesting. I think it’s a very sweet tradition that we have at Archer,” Perrineau said. “It makes me happy; it makes my heart warm.”
Perrineau also said she likes that the festival showcases both the dancing talent of students as well as their choreography. Poon said she enjoyed the freedom that she had in choreographing this dance.
“My favorite thing, which is definitely — this is kind of a senior thing — but it’s just being able to really have a say,” Poon said. “This year I was given a lot more freedom … to do whatever I was feeling or whatever I wanted, but also, I think that just kind of comes with being a senior dancer. They’re kind of like, ‘We trust you. You’re going to do the vision, you’re going to execute it.'”
Along with increased independence over her choreography as a senior, Poon said she always reserves time in her solo dances for improvisation, a tradition she continued in “Freefall.”
“I’ve never been one for super, super trained technique and stuff, because … that’s kind of such a filter from the raw emotion and the audience,” Poon said. “I always leave space, whether it’s half of it, or like the last one I did, I left a minute 30 of my solo to do improv, because I think it’s such a cool snapshot of time … I’ve always just put improv in my dancing, because sometimes my improv … comes out so much more naturally to me.”
Binder said she appreciates the space Festival of Dance provides for the community to bond over support for dancers.
“I just think Festival of Dance should stay how it is, throughout the years,” Binder said. “I think it’s really good to have that experience to share dance with Archer’s community. You know, because if you don’t go to Night of Dance, you still can see dances from Festival.”
