This year's fast-paced dance extravaganza, The Tribute, from students and teachers of Coast Academy of Dance, gave four full-house performances at the Raven's Cry Theatre last weekend. About 300 students took part in the two-and-a-half hour show that paid homage to the many greats of music and theatre using a diverse selection of music that ranged from the Beatles to Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta, The Mikado. The classical music selections, such as Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, allowed dancers to work with the romantic choreography and costumes of traditional dance. The details of stagecraft were honoured in this show; it moved along seamlessly at a visually pleasing pace that made maximum use of flamboyant costumes. One of the highlights was the stunning Marilyn Monroe impersonation by Chloe Giguere who danced with swains Stuart Wilson, recently returned from professional dancing in Mexico, and cheeky Pat Codere. The men proved every bit as dynamic as the women, and later, Wilson and Codere joined in various hip-hop and salsa numbers.
The chorus line from Cats was also a highlight, and offered a great showcase for Jillian McPhee-Cytko as the feline Mungo Jerry and Austin Patterson as Rumple Teaser. Vocalist Sarah Powell sang Memories accompanied by a variety of cute kittens and mischievous black cats. Advanced ballet truly shone in this show. The five-student crooners en pointe (Taryn Beauvais, Rebecca Gordon, Giguere, McPhee-Cytko and Patterson) was a fine piece. Many of the same performers are students of other forms of dance and appeared in other numbers illustrating how their competitive hard work is paying off in polished performances. Because the Coast Academy is a performing arts school, the recitals blend song and acting with dance. Pam Fulkerson gave a live rendition from The Sound of Music while students of Kevin Crofton's acting class performed a funny skit.
Last year's academy student Johanna Dalgleish returned, following a year at a dance school in Ontario, to present an artistic contemporary piece of her own choreography. In another guest appearance, dancers Rachel Berinstein and Erika Wrightman, recently returned from a professional dance gig in Mexico, performed a lovely piece that highlighted their exceptional talents. Wrightman will take on a new position on the Academy's staff this fall teaching primary ballet plus jazz, tap and modern. The dance school has developed a serious reputation for competitive hip-hop dancing under instructor Mark Zealand and this show was no exception. All of the hip-hop groups, from pre teen to advanced, exhibited great skill and energy. Just one small problem: many of them looked as if they were loving it so much they couldn't keep the smiles off their faces, thus lacking the sophisticated cool of professional dancers. Every dance class should have such a problem. The Coast Academy's season starts again in September.
