WILMINGTON — Despite a rainy day outside, students participating in Danceworks! filled The Grand Opera House with energy and excitement as they showcased dance styles spanning several decades during a year-end performance celebration.
Danceworks! is an immersive academic-year program presented through a partnership between First State Ballet Theatre and The Grand Opera House. The outreach initiative provides weekly dance instruction to elementary schools and childcare centers throughout the city of Wilmington while also giving students the opportunity to tour The Grand’s historic theaters and experience the performing arts firsthand.
This year’s performances highlighted popular dance styles and music through the decades, with students from several schools taking the stage in themed routines.
Students from St. Peter Cathedral School pre-K performed the 1940s inspired “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” while kindergarten students brought disco-era flair to the stage with “Disco Inferno” from the 1970s.
First- and second-grade students danced to the 1950s classic “You Ain’t Nothin’ but a Hound Dog,” and students in grades three and four performed a routine inspired by “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”
Fifth-grade students from Serviam Girls Academy performed “I Shall Be Released,” closing the showcase with a reflective and uplifting presentation.
The annual performance celebrated not only the students’ hard work throughout the school year, but also the program’s mission of making dance and arts education accessible to young people across Wilmington.
Students from First State Montessori School and Salvation Army Early Learning Center also preformed.
