How Fade is Ending the Year with a BANG

Because of the worldwide pandemic and transition to online learning, aspects of school that we’re used to are different this year. This includes FADE (Fine Arts Dance Ensemble), the School’s student-run dance club. Usually, FADE choreographs around 14 dances ranging from contemporary to Bollywood and performs them in conjunction with the School-run dance electives in the spring. However, during COVID they’ve had to do things a little differently.

Throughout this school year, FADE has been meeting over Zoom every week during Thursday’s community time. This year’s FADE captains (Jena Thorne 12, Kaylyn Beckford 12, Sophia Levine 12, Annie Robinson 11, and Caroline Sippey 11) have been committed to giving people the space to express themselves and find joy through dance. For the first semester FADE played a lot of Just Dance, which allowed students to take a break from school work and have some fun. 

Now, during second semester, FADE has transitioned into choreographing dances. However, being on Zoom presents its own challenges. Thorne remarks that “it’s definitely harder to learn choreography on camera because the camera is flipped,” so it becomes difficult to figure out whether you should be mirroring the instructor or not. Thorne also notes that there is difficulty in scheduling because there is less time to rehearse given that there are only two community time slots instead of the five lunches that the club is used to having. As a result, they’ve decided to cut down the number of dance routines by four.

One tradition that the captains are carrying out is a senior dance where members of the graduating senior class can participate in a dance even if they’re not fully fledged members of the club. In addition to a dance from the senior class, the pieces this year include a duet from captains Thorne and Beckford and contemporary, Bollywood, and hip-hop pieces. 

Due to the motivation from within FADE and outside choreographers to figure out a way to put on a show, the FADE captains worked to figure out the best way to perform. Beckford notes “that it started to come off the ground when they brought in outside choreographers,” who this year are Mia Cecchettini and Karina Ravipati, which took some of the pressure off FADE, so they were able to use their limited time to focus on their own pieces.

After some discussion, the club decided to put on a Gala where they will perform their pieces and eat fancy food. This socially-distanced in-person event seems like the best of both worlds, as Thorne mentions that “one of the biggest parts about FADE is the energy and social time which is harder to do when we’re not in person.” The captains hope to bring energy and hope back into the senior class and the School with the fun senior piece and Gala.