Dance Program
The Dance Program at Williston offers a wide spectrum of opportunities for students interested in dance. There are technique classes for students of all levels of ability and experience. Training in choreography and performance are available for students who wish to participate in the full-evening dance concerts that are given twice annually.
More specifically, the Program has three components:
- Classes such as Choreography and The Body in Motion for academic credit
- Afternoon Dance as a sports option
- The Williston Dance Ensemble
Each year, the Dance Ensemble a vibrant extracurricular program produces two full-length evening concerts in The Williston Theatre with costumes and lighting. Sometimes less formal in-studio performances are shown in our dance studio. Ensemble members rehearse in the afternoons and/or evenings. These dancers may audition to choreograph and perform their own work and/or participate in another student's work.
The Ensemble performances reflect the diversity of the students' personal and cultural backgrounds. Just as students come from Brooklyn and Hong Kong, our pieces range in style from Hip-Hop to Chinese ballet. The students' have performed traditional Thai dances; African-influenced dances; Flamenco; traditional Korean dance, and Classical Indian dance.
Find out more about the upcoming spring concert, InfraRed, including ticket information, here.
Also, the Ensemble has jointly created and performed the following: a dance whose centerpiece was a giant on-stage wall; a dance about mothers and daughters performed to texts written by the dancers; and a piece about adolescence performed to taped conversations of students talking among themselves.
Choreography
In the choreography class students create dances through experimentation and improvisation. Some of the dances performed in our concerts are chosen from work created in this course.