Our 30th Anniversary Celebration is now in full swing and we are having a great time with all the special touches that we are adding to our 30th Annual Recital Production! One of the all-time favorite routines that Miss Mary and our teaching staff is bringing back for this year is a precision tap number to the 80’s classic “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina & the Waves.

This routine first made it’s way onto the Dance Connection stage in June 2000 and was an immediate hit. Originally choreographed by Miss Mary, this tap number is at once super challenging for the dancer and super entertaining for the viewer. “Sunshine” as it is lovingly referred to by the teachers and dancers alike became a huge success for the Competition Team, earning top level adjudications and high score awards.

Sunshine is a special number for a lot of reasons. It showcases some the studios absolute best as far as dance talent, it has a much loved place in the hearts of many of the dancers here, it has been performed at Disney World 2 times, and it is hands-down the most challenging audition process I’ve seen in the studio.

These are no ordinary auditions. Usually here at Dance Connection our auditions are used primarily to assess the aptitude level of the dancers present and almost everyone is able to be included. Recently, we held auditions for our holiday performance, Step Into Christmas, where dancers’ ability to quickly pick-up choreography was paramount due to the tight time constraints the production was under, making it a little more difficult to make the dances. For Sunshine, dancers need to show up knowing the choreography, either from past experience or by learning it from the video, and they need to walk in being ready to perform! For weeks now, interested dancers have been getting together for practice sessions, tutoring and private lessons to make sure they are fully prepared.

Upon arriving, each dancer performed the “V” section of the dance and received corrections from Miss Mary. In addition to their performance of the choreography, the dancers were evaluated on their ability to apply corrections. After the auditions were finished, 24 of dancers had made the final cut. You can take a look at our 2019 Sunshine dancers in their first photo below, and if you need a refresher on the routine, or if you have never seen it, we have a short clip to give you an idea of what you’ll be seeing!