Actors rehearse a dance scene onstage. Photo by Aniya Cathey with Arts Bureau Edge.
By Cara Akin
Floyd Central High School, Class of 2022
What school was chosen by Disney as the pilot to put on this play? Have you guessed it yet? It is Disney’s “Newsies” being performed by Floyd Central High School.
This show is phenomenal in many ways, but most of all for the preparation that the dancers undertook. It is the main attraction of the show.
Dance captains Katelyn Carpenter and Sarah Seay had lots to say about the show.
They explained how the dancers are able to help each other. “So, if one person has a combination down and one person is completely lost you can pair them together and they will figure it out together,” Carpenter said.
“So, if one person has a combination down and one person is completely lost you can pair them together and they will figure it out together,”
Choreographer Megan Bliss, who is a big fan of the original movie, was greatly inspired by the dancing, and she stuck with that pedestrian-style dancing. “I really liked in the movie that they were regular boys, they weren’t necessarily fully trained dancers. They were a little gritty and pedestrian and that’s kinda the style I like to do. I pay a lot of respect to the original movie,” she said.
The dancers have done strength training and yoga since last summer, and the hard work has definitely paid off. Visually, you can see that. Seize the Day.