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HomeNewsArchivesRescheduled Central High Showcase Draws Large, Enthusiastic Crowd

Rescheduled Central High Showcase Draws Large, Enthusiastic Crowd

June 12, 2007 — A three-day delay intensified the appreciation of the audience at the St. Croix Central High School Fine Arts Showcase 2007, drawing nearly 400 friends, family and supporters to the open-air amphitheater Monday night.
The event was rescheduled after being rained out Friday at Island Center.
The showcase began with the CHS Concert Band performing under the direction of Stan Joines. The 15 young ladies and gentlemen were dressed conservatively in white shirts, black ties and black slacks, black dresses, black skirts and white blouses. The talented musicians performed "Symbol of Honor," "St. Petersburg March," "Monterey Holiday" and "In the Bleak Midwinter." The school's jazz band performed during the intermission.
"In 1998 we had 170 children in the concert band," Joines said. "Since then, our numbers have dwindled."
Joines said he hopes the Board of Education will include band as a credit course as they have done for dance, which is counted as a physical-education credit.
Dance Class II and III, which consisted of 15 girls and one boy, performed the next number, "Motherland." It was an energetic dance full of rhythm, employing African drumming.
Central teacher Marvin Matthews joined the students and did the calling for the quadrille. The twelve quelbe dancers dressed in traditional madras of red, blue, yellow and green plaid. Following the student's dance, they then chose members of the audience for an audience-participation quadrille dance. The audience participants were a big hit and got rounds of applause, laughter and cheers.
Rising Stars, which consisted of two boys and 15 girls, offered a dramatic dance with a touch of ballet. The two male lead dancers were very popular with the young ladies in the audience, who let out ear-piercing screams.
Three members of Dance III did a Spanish-themed dance to Jennifer Lopez's song "Hot Like Fire." Three brave young ladies sang "Stay" by Destiny's Child a capella.
Another popular group consisted of four young men known as the Most Known Unknowns. Three of the boys danced onto the stage and the fourth made his entrance doing a back flip. The boys did a perfectly synchronized hip-hop dance routine wearing satin shirts in bright red, blue, purple and yellow.
Five members of Dance III did a unified interpretive dance of street people dressed in tattered clothes. The stage was set with litter and a K-mart shopping cart.
The Jazz Band performed "Sing, Sing, Sing," "Blue Moon," "It Don't Mean a Thing," "All Blues" and a CHS Band adaptation called "Merengue."
Dance II and III performed the finale for the show.
"The whole show is fantastic," said Leila Muller, whose granddaughter was in the show. "This showcase lets everyone see what the children have learned. If the show had gone on as scheduled Friday night, it should have been a full house."
Added former dancer Lillian Oliver, "It was a really beautiful show. The audience participation was seen as encouragement to the children to get involved, as they did. I really enjoyed the dancers."
The mistress of ceremonies for the showcase was Edna Garcia. The art director for the sets was Niarus Benjamin-Walker and the drama director was Melody Harris. First Bank sponsored the showcase.
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