Aragon’s newly-established dance program took center stage during its performance, “Unlocking Talent,” on May 17. Together, the dance class and dance team performed pieces choreographed by both students and professionals such as JC Caoile from Str8jacket, Ayako Tagahashi from Ayako Ballet and Jenna Monroe from Requisite Dance, covering a wide variety of styles and following a theme of “unlocking” emotions.
Dance students had been preparing for “Unlocking Talent” since January, rehearsing a variety of sets in modern, ballet, contemporary, hip hop and lyrical genres. The class performed 17 sets in the show and the dance team did two.
“All the students have choreography assignments in the class, so there are student group-choreographed pieces in the show,” said dance class teacher Michelle Murphy. “I think what makes [Aragon dance] particularly unique is that we allow the kids to study so many different dance styles and that we’re willing to bring in outside choreographers to expose them to different styles.”
Although this is the first year Aragon has offered a dance class, students have been pushing for the administration to incorporate dance into the curriculum for years. This year the dance program only has one class, but it is hoping to continue to expand based on student interest.
“I have 30 kids, some are very advanced, some are beginners,” Murphy said. “Half of my class … had never taken dance before, and I probably have seven that are quite advanced.”
Murphy hopes that if the dance program accumulates enough interest, it will be able to include two classes next school year — beginning and intermediate to advanced.
“When I first came to Aragon, one of the things I was most looking forward to was trying to see if there was a dance program, and I was really disappointed when I found out the only dance program Aragon had was the dance team,” said senior Aaron Dasig-Aguada, a member of both the dance team and dance class and a prominent choreographer and soloist in the show.
Dasig-Aguada, among other students, was persistent in their advocacy for dance classes to be included in Aragon’s curriculum.
“I decided to keep asking the vice principal and the principal every year,” Dasig-Aguada said. “Luckily for me, we finally got a dance program my senior year.”
“I think the administration has been wanting to have a dance program, but finding budget and [staff] has been a challenge,” Murphy said.
The new program also had to figure out how to cover monetary costs of rehearsals and the performance.
“Half of the Aragon dance program is funded by the Aragon Excellence Fund,” Murphy said. “We will get some funding from ticket sales … we will use [that] to pay for our costumes.”
Since the dance class has variation in ability, a lot of rehearsal was required.
Dasig-Aguada, who has dance team rehearsals after school as well as dance class during the day, says he still finds time in between to do schoolwork.
“Most people think that it would be a lot to do [dance classes and dance team], considering that you have to go to class every day … and then meet after school for two hours,” he said. “It actually isn’t that hard, it’s very spread out and there’s a lot of time in between where you can focus on your schoolwork.”
Dance students like Dasig-Aguada and Bruce are grateful to have a consistent outlet for creativity like a dance program.
“It’s a fun class to take and … just take time to like de-stress and chill,” Bruce said.
Murphy agrees that it’s important for students to participate in the arts, especially dancing.
“I believe very strongly that kids gain a lot of confidence from dance,” she said. “It’s a way for them to feel really good about themselves. And that’s really important.”
