Participants in the upcoming circus-themed Upper School Dance Show began rehearsal Sept. 27 after auditions on Sept.17. The show will take place on Jan. 27 and 28 and will feature 162 upper school dancers.

The circus theme lends itself to entirely different genres of music, styles of costumes and use of props as compared to last year’s theme, “Mixtape.” Directors Karl Kuehn and Rachelle Haun chose the theme to be broad enough to create 24 routines, yet specific enough to evoke their artistic vision.

“I think that circus is a very fun theme that incorporates a lot of theatrical elements, and I’m a little bit dramatic myself,” Kuehn said. “Because we’re at the Upper School, I wanted it to be more of a mature circus theme, so we’re kind of going for that vintage, dark circus look when it comes to props and costuming. I think that so far, everyone’s having a really good time and the choreographers are really thinking outside the box and getting crafty and creative in their use of the circus theme.”

Senior David Zhu, a first-time student choreographer and a dancer in his own routine,  described his experience in the Dance Show so far.

“I think it’s actually really fun, because it gets you out of your comfort zone a little bit,” he said. “We got lucky, we have some strong dancers in our dance, and they learn very quickly, and luckily for me, they executed exactly what I envisioned almost all of the time. We had a neat formation change that I wasn’t sure was going to work, but it ended up working perfectly, so I was happy with that.”

Junior Amy Jin, who will participate in the Dance Show for the third time in her high school career, suggested that audiences can expect to see vibrant colors in the performances.

“When you think circus, you think [it’s] lively and festive. I think that’s also going to play a role,” she said. “One of the dances I’m in is a hip-hop dance, and we’re going to do some miming in the beginning.”

Haun, one of the directors, remembers teaching most of the participants when they were younger in other school programs, such as middle school P.E.

“There are a lot of new people that I haven’t seen before, but I’d say that the bulk of them are ones that I definitely remember teaching not too long ago, which is nice to see—they’re all just taller,” she said. “It’s been really nice to see how the dancers that I’ve had this year have gone above and beyond what they have in the prior years to make sure that they know their material because they’re excited to perform it.”

Dance Show participants rehearse each dance for about an hour a week in preparation for the show in January.