Dance academy entertains seniors with performance

Dynamic Motion Dance Academy fulfilled its dream of performing a patriotic show when it hosted “Red, White and Blue” in front of The Enclave at Anthem residents on July 2.

The show was the perfect time for Dynamic Motion Dance Academy as it had just wrapped up its summer camps.

“We’ve always wanted to do a patriotic show, so we decided to do something for the fourth,” said Dynamic Motion Dance Academy manager Tami Jewell.

With the patriotic show, Jewell was hoping to honor an older generation who served in wars and fought for several of the freedoms enjoyed in the United States.

“Many of the seniors have done so much for our country so we wanted to do something fun for them,” Jewell said. “We want them to know that their community appreciates them and loves them.”

Jewell decided to visit a senior living facility after speaking with Jessica Witmer, whose daughter dances at Dynamic Motion Dance Academy.

During the conversation, Witmer told Jewell that her mother was a resident at The Enclave at Anthem and that she and her neighbors would love to see a show.

“Red, White and Blue” served as a bonus for students who had been aching to perform in front of an audience again.

“Our kids love to perform and put on a show,” said Dynamic Motion Dance Academy coordinator Lyndsie Clymer. “We thought this was perfect with school being out and the fact that more kids were available to do shows like this.”

With that in mind, Jewell and Clymer created a show they felt would be fun for the dancers and the audience.

“Every song in the show was a patriotic song from a different genre,” Jewell said. “It was about a 20-minute show that had a slow country song, a fast upbeat song, some newer music and some older music.”

As for the style of dancing, Clymer chose to have her dancers partake in upbeat forms of the art.

“We went for mostly upbeat dance styles like lyrical which is a combination of jazz and ballet along with hip-hop and jazz,” Jewell said.

However, there was one style that was a must for Clymer.

“We also really wanted to put tap into the dance, so I rounded up some tappers and went from there,” Clymer

The dancers had four days to learn their routines. Clymer had a group of 26 dancers whose ages ranged from 5 to 18. The skill levels varied.

“For something like this, we looked at who signed up and we decided to go with some of the simpler dance steps that will allow us to have fun and keep things upbeat,” Jewell said.

The show displayed the talents of all students as they tumbled, leapt and danced to a catalog of songs like “Party in the U.S.A.” by Miley Cyrus and “Firework” by Katy Perry along with classics like “(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66” by Nat “King” Cole & his King Cole trio.

“I just picked some songs that the kids would have fun dancing to and everybody would recognize,” Clymer said.

Though the audience was residents from The Enclave at Anthem, they were not the only group in attendance as the performance was simulcasted over Zoom to Merrill Gardens at Anthem.

“We hope that the seniors take away that there’s a lot of really cool kids in their neighborhood that are having fun and want to do something special for them,” Jewell said.

“I hope the seniors had fun and this was a good way to reel in the Fourth of July Weekend,” Clymer said.