Arts & Entertainment

Local Students Dance in All County Festival

A group of students from Nantucket Elementary performed with many others in the 30th annual festival for Anne Arundel County Public Schools.

PASADENA—Dancers from across the area, including a group from Nantucket Elementary School students,  participated in the All County Dance Festival at Chesapeake High School  on Thursday and Friday. 

The festival included performances by students from 12 high schools, more than 15 middle schools and roughly 35 elementary schools in Anne Arundel County.

Due to the massive number of dancers that performed, the festival was split between three locations over six days. The first two performances took place at South River High School in Edgewater. Two more shows were held at Chesapeake High School and the final event will be held on Feb. 17 and 18 at North County High School in Glen Burnie.

The festival, which has been held for 30 years, is the brainchild of Anne Arundel County Public School Dance Coordinator Judi Fey.

"It started as one festival at South River that was only for the high schools," said Fey. "The very next year, the elementary and middle schools decided that they want this too so we added a second night. Eventually, we added a third and fourth night. Two or three years ago, it had grown so big that we had to add the fifth and sixth nights."

Fey said that more and more schools want to perform each year and it may eventually require that the festival span even more nights.

"It's turned into a really huge thing," said Fey.

Eligibility to perform requires the schools to provide in the fall a statement of their intention to be part of the festival.

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Music used in the performances is screened and organizational meetings take place later in the year in order to prepare the programs for each night.

The 13 dancers from Chesapeake High School's company performed a piece to James Dooley's "Ira Decorum" on Friday night.

Katie Aquino, a sophomore at Chesapeake High, was excited to perform in the festival.

"I'm just gonna do my thing and have fun," she said.

"I've been attending (the festival) for pretty much every year," said Patti DeMarco, dance instructor from Old Mill High School. "The company is ready and they're doing great. We're also going to a regional high school dance festival at the end of this month and they're excited about that. It's a big deal."

Students performed a variety of dance styles throughout the evening.

"We try to mix up the performance styles a lot so we don't have a night of just ballet, for instance," said Walter Skipley, coordinator for Health, Physical Education and Dance with AACPS. "These have been some incredible nights. We've got a number of schools that are performing this evening that have never been a part of the dance festival program and the excitement for that is building."

Fey emphasized the importance of the dance program for students in the area.

"It's an activity that's noncompetitive and that appeals to a lot of kids," said Fey. "It reaches kids that athletics might not reach. It's also very academic. The discipline of dance carries over to academic discipline, and studies have shown that regular participation in the arts improves academic performance."

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The community showed tremendous support for the recent performances at Chesapeake High. Both shows sold out in advance, according to the AACPS site.

"There are so many reasons why this is important," said Fey. "It reaches kids in so many ways."


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