![“[Building nerf blasters] became this outlet of creativity for me that hasn't been matched by anything else. The process [of] making a build complete to your desire is such a painstakingly difficult process, but I've had to learn from [the skills needed from] soldering to proper painting. There's so many different options for everything, if you think about it, it exists. The best part is [that] if it doesn't exist, you can build it yourself," Ishaan Parate said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/DSC_8149-900x604.jpg)
![“When I came into high school, I was ready to be a follower. But DECA was a game changer for me. It helped me overcome my fear of public speaking, and it's played such a major role in who I've become today. To be able to successfully lead a chapter of 150 students, an officer team and be one of the upperclassmen I once really admired is something I'm [really] proud of,” Anvitha Tummala ('21) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-25-at-9.50.05-AM-900x594.png)
![“I think getting up in the morning and having a sense of purpose [is exciting]. I think without a certain amount of drive, life is kind of obsolete and mundane, and I think having that every single day is what makes each day unique and kind of makes life exciting,” Neymika Jain (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-4.54.16-PM.png)
![“My slogan is ‘slow feet, don’t eat, and I’m hungry.’ You need to run fast to get where you are–you aren't going to get those championships if you aren't fast,” Angel Cervantes (12) said. “I want to do well in school on my tests and in track and win championships for my team. I live by that, [and] I can do that anywhere: in the classroom or on the field.”](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/DSC5146-900x601.jpg)
![“[Volleyball has] taught me how to fall correctly, and another thing it taught is that you don’t have to be the best at something to be good at it. If you just hit the ball in a smart way, then it still scores points and you’re good at it. You could be a background player and still make a much bigger impact on the team than you would think,” Anya Gert (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AnnaGert_JinTuan_HoHPhotoEdited-600x900.jpeg)
![“I'm not nearly there yet, but [my confidence has] definitely been getting better since I was pretty shy and timid coming into Harker my freshman year. I know that there's a lot of people that are really confident in what they do, and I really admire them. Everyone's so driven and that has really pushed me to kind of try to find my own place in high school and be more confident,” Alyssa Huang (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AlyssaHuang_EmilyChen_HoHPhoto-900x749.jpeg)
Welcome to the circus: Annual dance show features students, faculty
Seniors Noor Singh, Hazal Gurcan, Surabhi Rao and Tamlyn Doll dance to the song “Glitter in the Air” by P!nk. This routine featured the four senior members of the varsity dance team.
January 29, 2017
Harker presented its annual upper school dance production on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. This year’s Dance Show was the largest upper school dance production with 160 dancers and was completely sold out by Wednesday.
This year’s production featured hip hop, lyrical, contemporary, jazz and tap numbers, along with a hip hop faculty dance. Additionally, the show presented a jive interlude in the second half of the production and a ballet piece as a closer right before the finale.
“We have one dance that has three dancers on pointe, which is something that I do every now and then for the show. It is an exciting addition for the genre of pointe to be included in our school show,” Karl Kuehn, director of the upper school dance production, said.
The jive number was performed by Riya Chandra (12) and Timothy Wang (10). Riya first proposed the idea of including the dance in this year’s production to Kuehn and then began rehearsing with Timothy in the months after.
“[Riya] approached me and asked me if she can use her background in ballroom this year in the show, and for a few different reasons I agreed,” Kuehn said. “It’s a short piece that serves as an opportunity for other dances to have a quick change to change, but it’s exciting to feature the two of them in jive dancing.”
Seven dances were choreographed by student dancers. This year’s students choreographers were Charley Huang (11), Liana Wang (11), Miranda Larsen (11), Gracean Linthacum-Janker (11), Sanjana Marcé (12), Tamlyn Doll (12), Hazal Gurcan (12), Surabhi Rao (12), Sravya Cherukuri (12) and David Zhu (12).
For Tamlyn, captain of the varsity dance team, choreographing her dance “Funhouse” involved finalizing music for her piece and working on the choreography at home. In addition to teaching her dance to her dancers, she also proposed lighting and staging plans.
“I am really proud of the way [Funhouse] came together. I am genuinely so grateful that my dancers came back each week having mastered the choreography from the previous week’s rehearsal, and it allowed me to have a stress-free tech week leading up to the show.” Tamlyn said, “I have also definitely grown as a choreographer since I did ‘Vogue’ with Surabhi Rao last year.”
Hazal, another member of the varsity dance team, found that the process of choreographing her dance, “Hall of Mirrors,” allowed her to express her own personal style of dance through creating her own movements to music.
“I think I challenged myself to stray a bit out of my comfort zone by choreographing some movement that was fast and intricate, while still keeping my style of slow, fluid movement present in the dance. I think the hardest part about choreographing is teaching,” Hazal said. “I get nervous showing my own choreography to people because I’m always worried about whether or not they will like it, and it’s even scarier putting movement that I’ve created on other people.”
Prior to the final production on Saturday night, Kuehn and assistant director Rachelle Haun honored the seniors participating in the show. The graduating members of the varsity dance team also gave a series of speeches thanking Kuehn and Haun as dance and performance mentors and presented both with parting gifts purchased using money donated by the show cast.
“I am so sad that this is my last dance show because this time of the year is my favorite time of the year. It’s what I live for. I am going to miss having a dance show to look forward to and constantly being physically and mentally challenged with choreography.” Tamlyn said. “I do plan to keep dancing for the rest of my life, but there is no dance program like Harker’s out there. I will definitely cry the last time I perform ‘Glitter in the Air,’ our senior dance. It’s absolutely beautiful and I will miss everything about the dance show.”
