By Arcadia Unified Digital Communications Intern Danielle Workman The notorious quote “The show must go on,” rings true for the members of the Orchesis Dance Company (Orchesis) as they present their Virtual Dance Showcase, in lieu of their annual Spring Production. Instead of performing on a stage in front of an audience, Orchesis has found a new way to provide content for their campus and community. Swiftly adapting to this year’s virtual setting, the dancers have turned their choreography into short dance films to be compiled into one showcase. The circumstances of this virtual setting have made it difficult to learn and perfect the different pieces in this showcase.
Breanne Genite, director of Orchesis, said, “Typically, we have 3 pm-10 pm rehearsals where we are blocking, spacing, and running through the show, in the PAC (Performing Arts Center) every day for two weeks straight. We go through five nights of performances as well. As far as this virtual setting goes, it’s extremely different because a lot of the work we had to do collaboratively had to happen prior to the actual production, including working in class, creating, and shooting on locations.” Jacqueline Diep, an Arcadia High School junior and Orchesis’s historian, reflected on the rehearsal process, “We have rehearsals with a director or choreographer in class or during after-school rehearsals. When you are in-person, it’s a lot easier to clean everything and make sure all the details are the same, creating a more uniform piece. When the choreographer is right there in front of you, they can point out small corrections that you may have not noticed when at home. It’s a lot more effective when you are in-person because you will really know what the choreographer wants from you. However, when you are cleaning the dance on your own, you can’t depend on someone else to constantly give out corrections.” Echoing Diep, Jolie Fong, Arcadia High School junior and Orchesis’ vice president, stated, “A big change was that everyone had to rely on themselves and keep themselves accountable. You are dancing by yourself and making sure you are working hard by yourself without having other teachers actively pushing you. Accountability was a big part as to why we have been successful this year.” Not only have members of Orchesis been learning new pieces online, but some of them have been choreographing as well. “A majority of the pieces, about 80 to 90 percent of the content in our show, have been created and edited by students,” shared Genite. However, the choreographic process was harder to transition to an online setting. “You have to be very conscious of directions when learning or teaching a piece. If you look at a Zoom screen, the person teaching and yourself is inverted. You can’t copy it directly from the screen. For people teaching, you have to be very detailed and on top of reminding dancers which side is your left or right and where the movement needs to travel. If you aren’t careful in the beginning, it’s going to end up very messy. Adapting to the Zoom platform and being conscious of the mirrored versus normal videos was super important,” Fong explained. In addition, Diep sympathized, “When you are teaching online, you have to account for lags, mirrored screens, or people who can’t go full out because of their limited dance spaces. We don’t know if someone is doing something correctly or the way a choreographer wants it which is really hard. Over time, as we kept teaching online and perfecting our process, it got a lot easier. The teaching process was a lot better and faster by the second semester.” After refining choreography, dancers went to multiple locations to film. “A benefit of distance learning is that when you are filming, if it doesn’t end up looking as good as you want it to on the first try, you can always redo it. Whatever you produce to the audience you know will be your best work. It’s not a one-take only situation. You can perfect the small details and make it just how you or the choreographer likes it,” Alexa Litonjua, a sophomore at Arcadia High School and member of the Orchesis, reflected. Litonjua continued, “I think distance learning opened our creative bubble. Dancing for film allowed us to learn how to properly film and edit, as well as allowing us to go to various locations. We tried to make the best work possible considering these situations.” Additionally, dancers were responsible for rehearsing, choreographing, filming, and editing. Fong explained, “Editing is a big part of the preparation for this showcase. Sometimes the videos don’t turn out how you want them to so you need to manually fix the timing or spacing of the dance by editing. Editing is really important besides the rehearsal and dancing aspect.” “Not only are you putting together all of the videos you shot, you are also trying to creatively put together a piece, like formations in a piece on stage. You have to think about visually what the footage looks like. It’s been one of the bigger parts of the creative process this year,” Genite concurred. Many of the Orchesis dancers have never edited video before. “A majority of the people who edited the dances this year it was the first time they edited anything. Premiere Pro, a video editing software, is a pretty difficult program to use if it’s your first time editing,” Diep explained, “When you are editing, you have to stay creative and find new ways to always incorporate different aspects of the software and utilize everything you have.” Consequently, Navya Kannan, an Arcadia High School sophomore and Orchesis member , found that distance learning provided the opportunity to use video editing effects to enhance the themes of the choreography. “In places where it is kind of hard to put movement that matches with the music, we can incorporate transitions or cool and artistic shots that contribute to the mood of the piece. That’s a big plus to being online and having an online platform.” “I think everybody can agree that distance learning is very different from in-person learning. There were definitely a lot of adjustments and new things we had to learn how to do. For the most part, it was a fun experience. I know things could have turned out a lot worse and I feel we were very lucky. Everybody embraced doing this new type of performance platform and being open to trying things differently. Given the circumstances, everybody handled this really well!” said Genite. Director Genite and the dancers of Orchesis are thrilled to be able to put on a show. Kannan explained, “I want to see how people react. A lot of my friends know that every Saturday, Navya is at rehearsal or filming something. They don’t know exactly what it is. I’m really excited for them and myself to actually see the finished product and all the hard work and hours compiled into one really cool show. Being able to still see and put on a show makes me very excited.” “It’s been a long journey and creative process so it’ll be nice to see the final products. I always love to hear feedback from the audience about what they thought. It lets you know that your hard work and all the long hours of editing and filming was worth it,” Litonjua remarked. Genite shared the same sentiment, “Even though it is virtual, when people watch this show, they will understand why we have put in so many hours and why we were rehearsing so much. What they have been able to do in a short amount of time and the quality work they’ve been able to produce far surpasses anything I would have expected them to be able to do. I am really proud of how much they have grown creatively as artists and choreographers because they had to step into a very different perspective. A lot of them only just started learning how to film and edit. To see their growth and what they’ve learned is quite amazing. I feel that people within the community and on campus need to see the work that they have done.” This performance provides an incredible and unique experience for all of the viewers. Orchesis Dance Company’s goal is to express their passion and love for dance to an audience. The free Spring Showcase premiered on Apr. 30 and is viewable until Sunday, May 9. Access the show by visiting ahsorchesis.com!
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DCI Interns on the news writing team publish articles that are often published on local newspapers, such as Arcadia Patch and the Arcadia Weekly. The articles, ranging in subject, dive into the AUSD world and cover events, opportunities, news, and first-hand accounts of unique stories in the community.
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