On March 4 through 6, Buford High School dance held its second-semester performance through its “In It To Win It” themed show. The dancers featured in the show are those who take the Buford dance elective course, a course offered to all grade-level students.
While 2020-2021 hasn’t been an easy year, Buford Dance has managed to persevere. Over the past few months, students who are part of the program have dedicated their time and energy to learning complex choreography. Even students enrolled in digital learning have participated in learning the dances from home before meeting up in person after school for rehearsal.
This year, the dance show looked a little different than in previous years. Although it was held in the Fine Arts Center at Buford High School as usual, capacity was limited for the performance. Before COVID-19, the Buford Fine Arts Center could seat about 900 people, however, because of COVID restrictions, this year, it could only seat about 450 people. Even with limited seating and being required to wear a mask at all times, the dance show managed to sell out all 450 seats for every show. To say that the dance show was in high demand would be an understatement.
During the hour-and-a-half performance, spectators were able to enjoy a high energy, fast-paced show featuring some of their most favorite songs. Buford dancers performed to popular music, including “Rama Lama Bang Bang,” “Salute,” “Sign of the Times,” “Better Days,” “Black Widow” and more, which quite easily kept the audience entertained.
Buford High School dance teacher Ashley Smith, who is also the director of the dance department, talks about her role within the dance program.
“I choreographed (except for the step and tap numbers) and produced the dance concert,” she said. “My favorite part of the dance concert is seeing the smiles on my students’ faces as they perform. To see them come alive on stage and have fun, knowing that all of their hard work accumulated into a standing-ovation worthy performance, that is my favorite part about the dance concert.”
Lillian Trippe, a senior who has been a part of Buford’s dance program since her freshman year, speaks about her experience with the program.
“The last four years with Buford dance have been some of the best years of my life with some of the best experiences and people,” she said. “I love getting to be in class with everyone every day, and being on stage has been so much fun. I will forever cherish the memories I made with Buford dance.”
This past year has been a tough time for students, but as Buford dance continues to persevere, it sheds light onto the idea that the best is yet to come. The Buford dance program has changed the lives of many students, and will undoubtedly go on to continue its greatness in the upcoming years.
