Gallery • 10 Photos

Katie Martin

MOVING AND GROOVING: The Mac Youth Dance Company performed “Movement,” a faculty directed show at the AISD Performing Arts Center on Thursday and Friday. The show featured an eclectic mix of professional, student and faculty-devised choreography. Guest artists included Olivia Chacon, Aidan DeWitt, Alyson Dolan, Francisco Graciano, Kathryn Emily Mansfield, Alex Pruitt and Wynter Winston. Winston is a former Knight (Class of 2022) who currently studies as a dance major at UT. Directors Natalie Uehara and Terrance Carson choreographed “Power 2.0,” “Lovely Women,” “Trudy,” and “Closed Hand, Full of Friends.” “Lovely Women,” featuring sophomores Pia Sosa and Fiona Kirsch, will be advancing to the National Thespians competition, while senior dance major Julia Rasp’s choreography, “Don’t Kill the Groove,” was chosen to be performed at the National High School Dance Festival in February. “Don’t Kill the Groove,” set to “Murder on the Dancefloor,” an early 2000s pop song by Sophie Ellis-Bextor revived to the zeitgeist by the 2023 comedy thriller “Saltburn,” featured dance majors coming together in an ensemble number with inflections of hip-hop and lyrical dance. Junior dance major Analise Bady, who had a solo in “Murder on the Dance Floor,” regarded it as a joyful experience. “We all portrayed party guests having fun on the dance floor,” Bady said. “In the end, I’m running from Pia [another dancer in the piece], and she’s trying to kill me but I got out, which is quite the ending.” Bady stated that while the dance poses certain technical challenges, they’re nothing the company couldn’t overcome. “In the beginning, when we hit accents with our feet, it was a little difficult to make sure we all had the same exact timing,” Bady said. “My leg hold further in the dance requires some technique, and can be difficult to execute when I’m tired.” Bady’s fatigue only increased after the show, given that she proceeded to perform at a dance competition from Friday night to Sunday morning. Nevertheless, she and the rest of the company enjoyed a packed house and thunderous applause. Caption by Beatrix Lozach. Photo by Katie Martin.

The McCallum Youth Dance Company performed its annual winter showcase, “Movement 2025” at the Austin ISD Performing Arts Center last Thursday and Friday night. The company began working on these dances in August trying to prepare for its showcase. Students performed 13 different dances including dance styles such as flamenco, modern, contemporary, Fosse, jazz and ballet. The company also brought in eight guest choreographers including McCallum Dance Company alumna Wynter Winston. 

The show included dances from emerging, evolving, pre-professional, and ballet companies with special guest performances from non-major and beginning dance classes. Dance directors Natalie Uehara and Terrance Carson said they were inspired by the idea that the dances themselves mimic the movements of the music giving way to the theme of the showcase as “Movement 2025.” 

We are proud to shine a spotlight on McCallum Dance’s winter showcase as this week’s Tuesday Top 10.

CAPTURING THE AUDIENCE: Sophomore Opal Rodgers dances in  “Bohemian Rhapsody” — a ballet piece choreographed by Ms. Kat. 

Rodgers said her favorite part about dance is getting to capture the emotional aspect within a piece.

“Whenever I dance, I fully give myself to the dance and try to embody the emotion through both my movement and my face to relay only the best to the audience,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers said that the group of dancers had been practicing since halfway through the first semester and after spending so much time on the piece the dance, she said she was rewarded by an enthusiastic audience response on Thursday night in the PAC. 

Caption by Piper Norfolk. Photo by Katie Martin.

DANCING FOR FUN: Senior Gaby Alvarado dances in “Le Jazz Hot” alongside the pre-professional company during McCallum Dance’s show, “Movement,” on Thursday night. “Le Jazz Hot” was also the last piece that was performed on Friday, signaling the end of the two-night production. 

“This piece was super fun to do and learn,” Alvarado said. “When learning it our choreographer said to think about it almost like a battle, with both sides of the stage. The beginning of this piece is so much fun, and it only escalates from there.”

“Le Jazz Hot” was choreographed by Aiden Dewitt, an outside choreographer whom the dance program brought in to help with this show.

In Alvarado’s opinion, the dance went really well because of the exciting energy that was harnessed on stage and the different dynamics shown throughout the piece. 

“I had so many friends and families that said this was their favorite piece when I asked them, which makes sense because it is so much fun to watch and perform,” Alvarado said.

Part of the reason why Alvarado thought people liked this specific dance so much was because of how different it was from the others in the show. The rest of the show mostly consisted of modern, contemporary pieces, which can be difficult for some people to understand and follow according to Alvarado.

“With ‘Le Jazz Hot,’ there’s not really an underlying meaning, it’s just a bunch of fun,” Alvarado said. “The dance and music are lively, the groups doing it are super entertaining and the lighting completed it very well. With it being the last dance of the show too, it was a very fitting grand finale.”

Reflecting on her last winter dance show with the McCallum Youth Dance Company, Alvarado felt it was very eye-opening because she remembers being a freshman going to these shows and being so excited to perform. 

“The senior class as a whole is a very tight-knit group, and I have grown very close to them all, considering them all my best friends,” she said. “It felt rewarding to be up there with all these amazing dancers and gets me so excited for our spring student-directed showcase this semester, which will be the last time the seniors get to dance together as one big group and family.” 

Caption by Maya Tackett. Photo by Adele Seeboth.

EMERGING ON STAGE: The emerging dance company performs at Mac Dance’s “Movement” dance show during Friday’s encore performance. The show ran for two nights on Thursday and Friday at the PAC where friends and family gathered to watch all the classes perform. The dances were choreographed by several guest choreographers, master class teachers or professional dancers, and there were performances ranging from experienced pre-professional juniors and seniors to non-major members from all grades. 

This show was everyone’s first company dance of the year, including emerging class member, sophomore Campbell Epperly who said all the hard work Mac dancers put in pays off at the showcases. 

“This was my fourth show overall at the school, but this was my first actual company dance, and it was so fun to me,” Epperly said. “A lot of people don’t enjoy it [Mac Dance] just because they don’t really know the commitment, but for me, I really enjoy Mac Dance, and I love show days and my friends and community.” 

As part of the emerging dance class, Epperly is one of the few sophomores among many freshmen, so putting together a dance took a lot of work, especially since it was the first time doing a company show for many of the freshmen.

“For everybody’s first year usually the dances are really hard to do, and they never get finished,” Epperly said. “We finished blocking and marking and perfectly fine-tuning everything the day before the first show, so that was a lot of stress for everybody but apparently that’s how it goes normally.”

The higher-level classes faced even more work by preparing several dances, each of which last around seven minutes.

“Most classes have three dances, and all the major classes have three dances except for my class, and there’s one for ballet and then one dance for Coach T’s non-major class,” Epperly said.

Moving forward, Mac Dance will have its spring showcase with all pieces completely choreographed by seniors and juniors.

Caption by Dani Di-Capua. Photo by Emerson Merritt.

HOLDING ON TIGHT: Juniors Jill Hoffman, Olivia Pittman and Emily Springer preform alongside the other pre-professional company juniors at the McCallum Dance show. For Pittman, the show went pretty well overall and was an opportunity to showcase the dancer’s hard work this school year.

“I feel like we were extra prepared for this one because we started learning all of our dances early on in the school year, so we had a lot of time to clean and perfect them,” Pittman said. “We got a lot of outside choreographers this year which was a lot of fun, and we were able to try new styles of dance ,which made our pieces different from years past.”

The pre-professional company at McCallum is made up of juniors and seniors who are dance majors, but this dance was solely the juniors’ piece and allowed their class to show off their talent. 

“In this section of the dance, we run around holding hands and slingshotting each other across the stage,” Pittman said. “The choreographer wanted to encapsulate the nostalgic feeling of playing with your friends when you were younger, so that is where the inspiration behind this move came from.”

Pittman says that while she loves the performance aspect of the shows, the highlight for her is dancing alongside some of her best friends. 

“Since Mac Dance is double blocked, and you are with the same group of people every year, you grow really close with your classmates, and we all really enjoy each other’s company,” Pittman said.

Mac Dance performs two shows every year, one choreographed by teachers and guest choreographers, like this most recent one, “Movement,” while the show in the spring is completely student-choreographed. Both shows let students show how much they love dance. 

“These shows are always a lot of fun because we get to showcase our hard work and passion for an audience,” Pittman said. 

Caption by Carson Duncan. Photo by Emerson Merritt.

SPOTLIGHTING SENIORS: The senior dance majors performed a piece called “I Wanna Be a Dancin’ Man,” a Fosse-styled jazz piece that director Natalie Uehara created to showcase the creativity and legacy of the 2025 dance majors. Senior Zoe Maxwell liked the musicality and specificity of the movements.

“I think it was one of our more challenging pieces because of this, but also because of the fact that we’re dancing in heels too,” Maxwell said. “It was interesting because we’ve never done a dance like it in Mac Dance before.”

Maxwell’s favorite part of the number came when the music in the piece picked up. She thought it was the crowd’s favorite part too. She also said they had to learn the piece quickly because they didn’t have as much rehearsal time together.

“We only had like five-to-seven rehearsals and due to scheduling some dancers had to learn it outside of class,” Maxwell said. “Due to the canceled day on Tuesday, some classes lost some rehearsal time, and we did a really great job of coming together and putting on an awesome show.”

She was nervous going into the show, especially for the opening number, but was mostly excited because she loves performing. For this dance, she said that their experience is what made them work so well.

“We’ve always been a really strong group of dancers, some of us have danced together for 10 years,” Maxwell said. “This [experience] and drilling choreography is how we made it work.”

Because it’s Maxwell’s senior year, this was her last time she and her classmates will perform at the PAC together as a company.

“It was definitely bittersweet after the second show,” Maxwell said “I was most proud of my class for stepping up and being role models for the company as well as putting on a strong show.”

Caption by Callen Romell. Photo by Sophia Manos.

MOVING AND GROOVING: The Mac Youth Dance Company performed “Movement,” a faculty-directed show at the AISD Performing Arts Center on Thursday and Friday. 

The show featured an eclectic mix of professional, student and faculty-devised choreography. Guest artists included Olivia Chacon, Aidan DeWitt, Alyson Dolan, Francisco Graciano, Kathryn Emily Mansfield, Alex Pruitt and Wynter Winston. Winston is a former Knight (Class of 2022) who currently studies as a dance major at UT. Directors Natalie Uehara and Terrance Carson choreographed “Power 2.0,” “Lovely Women,” “Trudy,” and “Closed Hand, Full of Friends.” “Lovely Women,” featuring sophomores Pia Sosa and Fiona Kirsch, will be advancing to the National Thespians competition, while senior dance major Julia Rasp’s choreography, “Don’t Kill the Groove,” was chosen to be performed at the National High School Dance Festival in February.

“Don’t Kill the Groove,” set to “Murder on the Dancefloor,” an early 2000s pop song by Sophie Ellis-Bextor revived to the zeitgeist by the 2023 comedy thriller “Saltburn,” featured dance majors coming together in an ensemble number with inflections of hip-hop and lyrical dance.

Junior dance major Analise Bady (center), who had a solo in “Murder on the Dance Floor,” regarded it as a joyful experience.

“We all portrayed party guests having fun on the dance floor,” Bady said. “In the end, I’m running from Pia [another dancer in the piece], and she’s trying to kill me but I got out, which is quite the ending.” 

Bady stated that while the dance poses certain technical challenges, they’re nothing the company couldn’t overcome.

“In the beginning, when we hit accents with our feet, it was a little difficult to make sure we all had the same exact timing,” Bady said. “My leg hold further in the dance requires some technique, and can be difficult to execute when I’m tired.”

Bady’s fatigue only increased after the show, given that she proceeded to perform at a dance competition from Friday night to Sunday morning. Nevertheless, she and the rest of the company enjoyed a packed house and thunderous applause.

Caption by Beatrix Lozach. Photo by Katie Martin.

COMMUNITY FIRST: Senior Zalie Mann takes a bow after the finale of McCallum Dance’s show “Movement”. Due to an injury, Mann was not featured in her last high school faculty-choreographed show, but still bowed because she made significant contributions to the show and program.

“I was always really excited about directing,” Mann said. “Freshman and sophomore year you don’t get to choreograph or direct, junior year you can choreograph, and senior year you can direct. I get a lot of experience as a leader as a student rather than just the faculty.”

As a four-year dance major, Mann said she has become a leader for younger students.

“As a freshman, I definitely looked up to the seniors,” Mann said. “The first semester, we don’t have any classes together. But in the second semester, we got to interact with the seniors and collaborate with all grade levels.”

Mann says she’s gotten to know the underclassmen through Mac Dance’s mentor program, the “Petit Grand System”.

“Each freshman has a junior to look up to and each sophomore has a senior to look up to,” Mann said. “We give each other gifts and help each other throughout the year.”

Mann said her favorite part of the dance program has been the community and she believes it’s a great way to meet people.

“All my best friends are in dance,” Mann said. “It’s probably tied with the performance aspect because performing is my favorite thing.”

Caption by Fletcher Vandegrift. Photo by Adele Seeboth.

BEST FRIENDS AND DANCE PARTNERS: Sophomores Fiona Kirsch and Pia Sosa performed a duet to “What You Don’t Know About Women” from the Musical City of Angels at last Friday’s encore dance performance. The dance was originally choreographed by director Natalie Uehara; however, the two were able to add their own personal touches to it through the many rehearsals they attended.

“Fiona is one of my best friends, so it was really getting to work together on this one,” Sosa said. “I think learning the dance together and getting to perform it many times has brought us closer because we’ve had to learn to be exactly in sync.” 

The duet was originally choreographed for a competition at Thespian Festival and when the duo made it to nationals they wanted to show the dance off to a wider audience.

“Each year the concerts really bring the company together because we are separated for most of the year,” Sosa said. “I loved this show, and I feel like I learn so much from watching and learning the choreography from Ms. Nat.” 

While the show had its challenges for Sosa, such as many quick costume changes in between acts, the overall synergy of the performance and bringing each piece together made everything worth it. 

“My absolute favorite part of the concert is how all of the pieces come together with costume and lighting,” Sosa said. “I love my class, and we continue to grow together and support each other.” 

Caption by Chloe Lewcock. Photo by Sophia Manos.

A NIGHT OF FOSSE: Front and center, senior Perla Vela throws her hat up as she performs an adapted version of Bob Fosse’s “I Wanna Be a Dancing Man” at Thursday’s opening night performance of the McCallum Youth Dance Company’s production, “Movement.”

Vela said she enjoyed the different styles of dance seen throughout the show and in her dance, performed alongside fellow senior dance majors.

“This section of dance is really musical and is all in small groups,” Vela said. “There are a lot of pauses in the music, and the movement is really calm and minimal.”

Vela said the practice leading up to to the showcase was done swiftly due to time constrictions, but she was impressed with the polished look of the final show.

“Because of our schedule with classes, we had limited time to finish the piece, but we had probably 10 or so rehearsals from October to January,” Vela said.

Caption by Nate Williams. Photo by Adele Seeboth.

FOSSE STYLE: Senior Julia Rasp performs alongside fellow senior dance majors during McCallum Dance’s “Movement” at Austin ISD’s Performing Arts Center as part of a two-night showcase last Thursday.

Rasp said her favorite part of the show was the Fosse-style piece at the very beginning of the show choreographed by dance director Natalie Uehara. 

“[This piece was significant to me] because of the intention behind why it was choreographed,” Rasp said. “Ms. Nat wanted to give us a special Fosse-style piece for the seniors because us as a class really held a special place in her heart, and we want to leave our legacy on Mac Dance which is kind of what the song is about.” 

Caption by Josie Mullan. Photo by Katie Martin.