Both Senior Bollywood and Senior Extension Dance have been working constantly, building complex routines for the 2022 Synergy Dance Festival. We, determined dancers, have been actively attending practices twice a week, to be chosen to participate in this festival. Auditionies are required to submit a video of their dance which are later reviewed by experienced choreographers to select creative dance groups.
In order to complete our dance routine we spent countless hours of hard work dancing to ‘Bollywood Spice’ and ‘Radioactive’. This led to extended before and after school practices. During these months we have had multiple dress rehearsals which led to our discovery of extension dance’s UV light costumes and Senior Bollywood’s traditional, shimmering costumes.
On the 9th and 16th of June we travelled from school to Penrith Panthers League Club by bus for the morning rehearsal and our matinee performance. Our experience there, watching other groups was phenomenal as we got to see many other styles of dance. Throughout the night of the 9th we had an army of Westmead supporters who cheered us on during the whole performance, who we would like to thank.
We stood in our positions waiting eagerly for the curtains to draw. “Please warmly welcome our first dance of the day, featuring Westmead Public School, ‘Radioactive’ choreographed by Lauren Booth.” As the music began the curtains opened and a silence blew over the audience. Suddenly, the feeling in the pits if our stomachs had vanished and our arms and legs just moved with the flow. For Senior Bollywood’s though, a whole another mood was set. Panic. As we walked onto the stage whispers emerged from the audience, rushing to our spots quietly and in the dark was a quite difficult task as there was always a lingering thought ‘Am I going to hit the wall between the curtains?’ The time was ticking.. the song could start any second before reaching our positions. Though our dance prop, tea lights, had significantly helped to see even if it was a small shine in the darkness just like our groups.