The theme of the upper school Dance Show this year is “Mixed Tape.” Every year, a different theme is chosen by director Karl Kuehn.

This year’s production featured retro songs from the ‘80s and ‘90s.

“Mixed Tape” has a special significance to Kuehn and assistant director Rachelle Haun because it brings back childhood memories for the both of them.

“The inspiration for the theme is the mixed tapes that growing up we would create from different songs on the radio,” Kuehn said. “I always loved making a variety of mixes and I would send them to my friends literally via mail over the summer.”

Haun explained that listening to music nowadays is drastically different from how people did in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Currently, many use Spotify or iTunes to enjoy and share music rather than tuning into a radio station or creating mixed tapes.

“We would wait for [our] favorite song to come on the radio and press record in time hoping to get it,” she said.

Not only does the theme have meaning to Kuehn and herself, but it personally relates to a large portion of the audience as well.

The upper school dancers performed for the middle school Friday afternoon and for friends and family on Friday night, Saturday afternoon and Saturday night.

One of this year’s guest choreographers, Alexandra Venter, sat with directors Karl Kuehn and Rachelle Haun Thursday afternoon as dancers in bright pink and yellow costumes covered in sequins skipped onto the stage to the song “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.” Watching each leap and pirouette closely, Venter examined the dancer’s fast-paced, intricate movements for any specific corrections to give them before their live shows on Friday and Saturday.

Venter is a company member of Bay Pointe Ballet and an instructor in studios across the Bay Area. This is her third year teaching at the Upper School. She also choreographed dances in the shows for the lower grades in previous years.

Venter teaches ballet at the Upper School each week. She explained how she grew involved in the Harker community and became a choreographer for each Dance Show since she joined the performing arts staff.

“I know Mr. Kuehn– we danced together a few years back at a local studio,” she said. “Since then, I got in touch with him, and he first wanted me to teach ballet at Harker, so that’s why I was first at the high school teaching ballet. From then, I’ve been a guest choreographer for the Lower School too.”

This year, she choreographed a piece featuring intermediate to advanced-level dancers. Venter explained how the difficult moves and fast timing required a great deal of polishing and practice before looking sharp.

“We had to get the mats out one day and practice some of the moves where they fell to their knees just so that they were doing it correctly and not getting hurt,” she said. “I also had them do a lot of the things one by one, just so I could watch and make sure that they were comfortable doing it in front of each other.”

While the dancers worked tirelessly to perform to the best of their ability in their final performances, Venter strived to choreograph a comprehensive, dynamic piece, as her specialty lies in teaching technique rather than in creating dances.

“The most challenging [experience] for me would probably be just coming up with choreography. I feel like I’m a lot better with just teaching classes and technique,” she said. “Choreography is a stretch for me, but I always feel like I’m growing and learning.”

As she watched full run-throughs of the show, Venter felt that this year’s theme, like most in the past, was interactive and engaging. She looked forward to seeing the audience’s reactions to familiar songs and stellar dancing featured in the show.

“I think the reaction is going to be amazing,” she said. “Any time a show is like that, where there are songs that people really know, it’s really exciting. I’ve done other things before, whether dancing or choreographing, where it might be something like a Broadway musical, where people aren’t super familiar with that. But when they are songs that you hear on the radio from way back when, I think everyone is really going to enjoy it because it brings back memories.”

Gallery • 2 Photos

Shania Wang

Students dance to the song "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.” The dance show took place at the Blackford theater last Friday and Saturday.

Decked out in leggings, leather and wigs, 11 upper school faculty members step out onto the brightly illuminated stage, welcomed by a cheering crowd as they strum their neon inflatable guitars and point at the audience.

The teacher dance, a student favorite, has been a long-standing tradition and an integral part of the Upper School’s annual dance production for many years.

“I think it’s definitely a good experience for the teachers to perform in the dance show, as it adds diversity to the performance,” junior Alexander Lam, who performed in the number “Boy Band Bliss,” said. “The audience also loves it when the teachers perform.”

This year’s dance included participants Pilar Aguero-Esparza, Jill Bettencourt, Juston Glass, Susan King, Diane Main, Diana Moss, Mala Raghavan, Jennifer Sandusky, Kate Schafer, Victor Squillacioti and Bradley Stoll.

The faculty members danced to “Paradise City” by rock band Guns N’ Roses. Released in 1988, the song peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and is mostly known for its iconic lyrics, especially the line “Take me down to the Paradise City, where the grass is green and the girls are pretty.”

Dance show director Karl Kuehn, who choreographed the dance, was excited to see faculty members perform on stage and believes the Dance Show provides them with an enjoyable chance to do so front of an audience of students.

“Our faculty members play a huge role in the community of the upper school campus, and our faculty members have donated countless hours to the performance,” Kuehn said. “People our age dance too! It’s a fun opportunity for them.”

Diane Main, director of learning, innovation and design at the upper school, enjoyed participating in the dance show and working with students and her fellow teachers.

“It forces me to see all the work the kids who are performing are doing and I get to see all their dances,” Main said. “It’s just a lot of fun because we don’t get to do stuff together as teachers that often- so it’s fun, it’s hard work, and it reminds us how hard the kids work.”

The faculty members performed on both Friday, Jan. 29 and Saturday, Jan. 30 at the Blackford theater.