With the school year coming to a close, there’s one more opportunity for Bridgeport High School student dancers to showcase their skills. A 7 p.m. Friday concert at the BHS auditorium will feature the BHS Danceline, BHS Dance Ensemble and students of this semester’s dance class at BHS. Also performing will be soloists Danielle Walden, a BHS alum and member of the WVU Dance Team and Katie Mossburg, a student of BHS and Morgantown Ballet and recipient of the 2015 Jerry Rose Scholarship for Excellence from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History. Also to be showcased are numbers by In-Step School of Dance and Cadalzo Contemporary Dance Company.

 

The BHS Dance Line will perform the open dance number which nabbed a first-place finish at the March 16 West Virginia Danceline Competition at Lincoln High School. The number features lyrical contemporary dance and was choreographed by Albert Altovilla. From New York City, Altovilla instructs hip-hop, jazz and contemporary dance classes at Annabel Timms School of Ballet.

 

Coach Cindy Timms Pulice said that dance was chosen because of its uniqueness and because unlike the team’s hip-hop, jazz, kick and pom numbers, it has not been performed throughout the year at BHS basketball and soccer games. Pulice said this Friday’s dance showcase gives her dancers a nice closure to the year. It will be the last official performance before senior members Kylie Frame and Megan Blount graduate.

 

The BHS Danceline also received first place in hip-hop, jazz, kick and pom, as well as the judges’ pick, precision award and overall grand champion trophy at the March 16 competition.

 

Members of the BHS Danceline are Megan Blount and Kylie Frame (senior co-captains), juniors Hannah Stolzenfels, Madelyn Aloi, Emily Trickett, Kaylissa Lynch and Sarah Reppert; sophomores Autumn Fiest and Sarah Momen and freshmen Sydny Guy, Sophie Lopez, Madison Smith, Erica Baylon, Taylor Frame, Mackenzie Kress and Kim Morris.

 

Members of the BHS Dance Ensemble will perform grade-level and solo pieces, as well as group numbers. Included is “Dance of Hope,” choreographed by Director Alicia Kinsey. Set to Birdie’s “Not About Angels,” the dance pays tribute to cancer victims, including Kinsey’s mother Lisa Smolder, who passed away in January after her longtime battle with the disease.

 

The group will also perform dance numbers choreographed by Crystina Reseter of Morgantown Dance Studio and Lauren Trupo, a BHS alum who is attending West Virginia University, where she is a new member of the WVU Dance Team.

 

Working with other choreographers is an important part of the learning process for members of the ensemble, Kinsey said.

 

“It gives them the opportunity to learn other styles of choreography and to truly grow as dancers,” she said. “And it’s really nice to see our alumni come back and choreograph pieces for us.”

 

Last year, Chiara Pulice, a 2013 BHS graduate and dancer, choreographed a number for the concert, Kinsey said.

 

A lifelong dancer, Reseter has studied jazz, tap, ballet, pointe, contemporary and modern dance, as well as acrobats and gymnastics. She holds a dance minor from WVU, where she was a member of the modern dance ensemble and provided choreography for the WVU Division of Theatre and Dance.

 

Trupo majors in speech pathology at WVU with a double minor in dance and disabilities. She is a three-year member and historian of the WVU Student Dance Association and will continue performing with the group in 2015-2016. Growing up in Bridgeport, she took dance lessons at Rebecca’s Dance Studio, Annabel Timms School of Ballet and Momentum Dance Center. She was a member of BHS Dance Line and BHS Dance Ensemble.

 

She has been working with the girls on a jazz number to “Ghost” by Ella Henderson.

 

“I wanted to do something different and since most of the other numbers are slower pieces, I decided to do jazz, which is my favorite,” Trupo said.

 

Coming back to her high school alma mater to choreograph is important to her.

 

“Obviously I wouldn’t be where I am right now if it wasn’t for dance ensembles and teams in high school and middle school,” she said. “I like to help when I can, to be involved and make sure these programs I did are still going strong.”

 

Kinsey has taught dance classes at BHS and directed the BHS Dance Ensemble since 2011. Although she puts in a lot of hours, her position is actually only part-time. It’s all more than just a job to her, she said.

 

“I like to see how much the students grow as dancers,” she said. “The majority of the girls on the ensemble dance outside of school at various studios so this is an opportunity for them to work together as a team.”

 

Participation also enables the dancers to important learn life lessons, such as balancing workload.

 

“These students are involved in a lot of other things. They take AP classes and are involved in Student Council and various activities inside and outside of school, yet they find the time to dance,” Kinsey said.

 

Auditions for the 2015-2016 BHS Dance Ensemble will be held Tuesday. Each year, Kinsey selects between 10 and 15 girls for the program.

 

This year’s group is one for the books, she said.

 

“These girls are all technically sound as dancers and they’re sound individuals, too,” she said. “I cannot tell you how pleased I am with them. They come and work hard every day. They’re really a good bunch of kids.”

 

Many members of the BHS Danceline also dance for the ensemble. Members of the BHS Dance Ensemble are Kylie Frame, Megan Blount, Jessica Balash, Olivia Friel, Bella Malone, Mallory Rinker, Emily Trickett, Madalyn Aloi, Sarah Reppert and Lindsay Knight.

 

Rinker said Friday’s showcase is a good way to sum up the year in dance.

 

“It’s like a year in review; something to work toward for the last month of school,” she said.

 

She hasn’t been involved with a local dance studio since she was in the eighth grade, so this event serves as her recital, so to speak. For her solo piece, she chose the song “Warriors” by Imagine Dragons to which she will perform a modern/contemporary dance.

 

“A lot of the girls have taken something either from their senior year or entire high school experience and reflected on that,” she said. “Mine has to do with strength and being a strong individual.”

 

A number to “Let’s Hear it for the Boys” will involve members of the ensemble and various BHS students, including members of the BHS baseball team.

 

Donations will be taken at the door to help fund the dance groups’ expenses, including costumes, travel and choreography.