Colgate dancers raise the barre

(Instructor Amy Lindemore with competition team Dance Addictions.)

Colgate dancers took the stage anxiously as they prepared to entertain their audience at Dundalk High School in their show titled “Raise the Barre” this past Sunday.

“”I thought the show went well and a lot smoother than the dress rehersal which was so nice,” senior dancer Amberly Smith said.

The show included 35 dances all choreographed by the only teacher at Colgate, Amy Lindemore.  The age range of the dancers starts with the youngest being only three years old to the oldest who is 24.

“Putting on a whole show is so much more then people understand because you have a bunch of dancers that are representing you and that is totally out of control,”  Lindemore said.

There is a lot of preparation that goes into creating an entire recital.  Aside from choreographing every dance in the show, Lindemore was in charge of cutting music, designing scenery, costuming and lighting.

“Many hours are spent doing scenery months before the show and music editing take many, many hours,” Lindemore said.  ”The last few days before the show is always when people like to offer help but what they don’t realize that is too late.”

As the only teacher at Colgate, Lindemore takes responsibility for not only creating dances to entertain the audience  but also creating props and fixing any costume and shoe issues.

“There is actually a lot of work that went into making the show run,” Smith said.  ”We had a lot props this year so that alone takes a lot of work to get together.”

The show included large props used for the two production numbers that were included in the show, “Chicago” and “This is Halloween”.  The seniors also danced a piece in which the stage was covered with rose petals.

“There were a lot of problems the previous week but we were able to look past them and put on a great show,” Smith said.  ”I know putting on a show is a lot of work and I think Amy did a great job at getting everything together.”