Ardell Stone hosted a Friends Day on September 24 for guests of the students to learn dance and watch their friends’ performances. Attending Friends Day unexpectedly opened my eyes to the work that goes into dance. As soon as class began, the dancers immediately got their guests into lines for warm ups. I believed that that they would take it easy on us, but as the music started, I realized I was sorely mistaken. The dancers launched into the splits before they moved on to push ups, burpees, and stretches I couldn’t name if I tried while we tried our best to keep up.

Next, we partnered up to practice some dance steps across the floor. We followed the dancers’ lead as they would beautifully pirouette and sauté down the studio. Though I was able to perform some steps decently, I hobbled down the floor for most of the steps. Griffin Shaver (12), a senior at Hidden Valley High School who was invited to Friends Day, stated that “It was very eye-opening to see how difficult it is to remember and memorize all of the moves.”

Our public embarrassment ritual was finally over when we got to sit back and watch the dancers perform some of their routines. They started with an upbeat and energetic group routine, followed by solo and trio routines, until they  concluded with one more somber group performance. Vada Szechenyi (11), a Hidden Valley student and Ardell Stone dancer, commented, “We’ve been working on the dances since August, and we’ll work on them until January.” Their efforts really showed. I, along with the other guests, were blown away by their talent. Each dancer moved so gracefully and with so much control while perfectly conveying the emotion of the dances.

I really enjoyed Friends Day. I had a lot of fun attempting to follow along with the warm ups and steps, even though I was horrible. Watching the performances was definitely my favorite part, and I loved getting to see the dances that my friends worked so hard on.