For two long years, the Dance Images by BJ did their thing in the safest manner possible during the pandemic, following guidelines and doing whatever they could to stay active despite not being able to perform in front of crowds.
This past weekend, it was their Time to Shine -- with that phrase acting as a perfect title for the return of their first dance recital since 2019.
Performers ranging from tiny three- and four-year-olds all the way up to graduating seniors took the stage at Peacock’s Centennial Auditorium for shows on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, giving parents, grandparents, friends and family a chance to see their youngsters in action.
“It was awesome, it was a great show and it was great to be back on stage live,” said Dance Images director Barb Jackman after Saturday’s show in front of a packed house. “The kids were pumped, the parents were pumped, everybody was pumped and it was so much fun.”
Dancers took to the stage across all disciplines, from tap to jazz, hip hop to acro and everything in between. Many of the older performers showed off their versatility, rolling through a musical theatre performance before throwing on a different costume and putting down a flawless ballet routine.
While those performances were some of the highlights of the night, it was the little ones who stole the first half of the show, as is usually the case.
“When you see the little guys and how darn cute they are, then you see the proficiency of the older dancers, especially our seniors, sometimes I have to pinch myself and as ‘how did they go from there to here’,” Jackman said. “We have tons of good role models for our dancers to see and aspire to.”
That’s also one of the most positive aspects of the recital format, something Jackman and her fellow instructors are more than happy to take advantage of -- show off the youngest dancers and follow right up with the most experienced veterans the studio has to offer.
“The beautiful thing about a dance recital is you see the little ones right up to the big guys,” Jackman said. “It’s good for everybody to appreciate the growth the dancers make and it’s great for the parents to see what their little dancer could develop into. I always love having a three- and four-year-old class on and then the seniors come on after that, it’s like ‘whoa’.”
Of course, when it comes to running the kind of recital Dance Images puts together, it takes a small army of volunteers to keep it all going smooth backstage -- something especially important when you have a couple dozen pre-schoolers to wrangle.
“It takes a huge group of people to run our show because we run it non-stop, so everybody has to be where they have to be and you don’t get to wait around,” Jackman explained. “We have a great group of volunteers, though, and they did such a great job making sure everyone was where they needed to be.”
And, of course, there’s the whole aspect of just being back on stage at home again after a season of competitions.
“It’s something we missed so much,” Jackman said. “This is something we’ve all been looking forward to for a long time, and we definitely appreciate it even more now that we’re back.”
The recital brings an end to the 2021-22 season, with Dance Images planning to slow things down in July before returning for a host of events in August -- including Kids Summer Fun Dance Camps Aug. 2-3 and Aug. 16-17, their Dance Craze camp Aug. 8-11 and Acro Fusion event on Aug. 12
For more information on those programs and Dance Images in general, be sure to visit their website at www.danceimagesbybj.com.
