Dance recital pulls out all the stops

PINE PLAINS — Stissing Loft School of Dance held its annual dance recital last Saturday, June 5, in the Stissing Mountain High School auditorium.

This year, the school’s 31st, the show theme was
“Anything Goes,� giving the school’s four teachers free rein to pick anything from classical to contemporary music to accompany the tap, jazz and ballet dance styles that the school teaches.

There were dozens of dancers in the recital, with ages ranging from 3 to adult, all performing arrangements as part of their own age group and again as a whole. The dance school year begins in September, and studio owner Carol Frenzel said that preparation for the recital, which is the culmination of the annual program, begins around the end of each year.

The three teachers in addition to Frenzel all started out in the studio as students themselves at Stissing Loft, she explained. That includes two under the age of 25 and Sarah Funk, a mother of one of the dancers in the program who was working with several of the classes late last week in the days before the recital.

Five girls in the third- and fourth-grade class were seen rehearsing two numbers for the recital last Thursday. Several have been with the dance program for as many as five years.

“I love our dances,� said Samantha St. Germain.

“The finale is my favorite part,� added Sydney Cleveland. “When it’s close to the recital that’s when we get to learn it.�

“Many of the girls have been in the program for a very long time,� Funk said. “Some that are in the teen tap program now have been dancing here since they were 3.�

The secret to keeping the program alive for all these years lies in the dedication of former students to the program, Frenzel explained.

“You have to keep the young teachers coming in, because they have the fresh ideas,� she said. “They are the ones doing the dancing that’s now age-appropriate for 2010.�

The same teachers will be returning next year, Frenzel said, as well as a 16-year-old student who has been a student demonstrator for several years. It’s a generational program, evidenced by Frenzel’s own grandchild who made her debut on Saturday.

“I just enjoy watching the kids having fun and doing so well after practicing for a whole year,� she said. “It’s exceptional just to see them go out on the stage and have fun and do a good job. That’s very fulfilling.�

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