Step into the RDE fall showcase

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Olivia Meyer

Dancers in the RDE show. Photo courtesy of Olivia Meyer.

Riverside Brookfield High School’s dance program presented its annual Repertory Dance Ensemble Fall Showcase dance performance. The show was performed on November 21 and November 22 in the RB auditorium.

The RDE honor dance class teaches advanced dance moves as well as having students choreograph their own dance. The fall show dances are choreographed by student choreographers.

“Mrs. Doyle wanted us to have more of an intellectual show, want all the dances to be all thought-provoking. She wanted us to choreograph more so she wanted us to have longer dances than we did in the past,” said senior RDE member Olivia Meyer.

This year, almost every piece created by the students focuses on heavier subject matter and contains complex themes.

“A lot of people try to come up with inspiration from their dances so a lot of people dances are focused on larger issues,” said Meyer. “We have one about body shaming, noise pollution and there’s one about blind people. There’s a lot of different topics.”

The honors dance class provides dance growth and improvement for aspiring dancers at RB. RDE is unique to a typical high school dance class because it gives students the chance to choreograph their own dances and teach them to the rest of their class.

“I struggle a lot coming up with new stuff, and sometimes it is difficult teaching what your vision is in your head to other people,” said Meyer. “You’re mostly a learner from when you start dancing and when you move on to see the other side,” said Meyer.

The RDE honor dance class and Orchesis Dance company (Spring showcase dance company) audition are held in early Fall every year. Accepted freshman dancer will be put into RDE honor dance class for P.E credit the following year.

“There’s a lot of difficult movements and they focus on small details,” said sophomore RDE member John Murphy. “It [RDE] helped improve my ability and responsibility for RDE.”