Long Island High School For Arts will host its Winter Dance Festival on Friday, Jan. 16, at SUNY Old Westbury’s Maguire Theatre.
Students will perform two original works by Mariah Anton-Arters, the school Dance Repertory Company’s resident artist.
“Coming here to [Long Island High School For Arts] has really helped to build myself as an artist.” Melanie Sangurima, a senior from Levittown, said. “It’s a really great opportunity to dive into different styles and performance techniques. I really love it here.”
The show presents a wide spectrum of dance styles, including modern, jazz, and contemporary techniques, and reflects the work students have been developing throughout the fall semester, according to students, and will include performances from the dance program’s morning and afternoon student groups.
Students said that unlike past years, the program is composed entirely of dance, with no musical theater components, highlighting the depth and range of the department’s training. Two of the pieces in the show are originals by Anton Arters.
“It’s been a really wonderful opportunity for me to start teaching and implementing what I’ve learned, but also it’s taught me a lot,” she said.
Anton-Arters, 28, from Huntington, employed a teaching technique that she had studied, known as the Cunningham Method. She said it’s a difficult technique that challenges the body, incorporating segmented body movements and utilizing uncommon timing.
“Because the work is so difficult at times, the only way to do it is to do it. There isn’t as much talking about or theorizing the dance when it comes to a Cunningham class. Really, you’re learning by doing,” she said. “We kind of had to work at a quick pace, but the students were totally game. I was really impressed with their professionalism and the openness with which they approached the technique.”
“Here we’re getting professional training that you wouldn’t necessarily do recreationally outside of school,” Archie Lithgow, a senior from Long Beach, said.
“I step into the dance hallway often, and it is an incredible production that they have,” Lindsay Rogan, Long Island High School For Arts principal, said. “It’s upbeat, it’s meaningful. Students are learning different performance qualities, which range from not only the standard technique in dance, but also how they share their emotions and stories.”
Students said the community at the school is supportive and professional, and that they are excited to learn at such a high level.
“Since we’re all here for the arts, I feel like we’re all connected in different ways,” Sangurima said. “It’s a good community here, we’re all very connected and very nice to each other. We all love each other.”
“To any student or parent of a student who has any interest in the arts… come and check out the school,” said Allison Johnson, a communications professional at Nassau Board of Cooperative Education Services, which oversees the school. “To see it is to believe it.”
