Jubilation dance club members prepare for holiday showcase
by Meghan Laakso|Staff Writer
With productions such as “The Nutcracker,” the holiday season is filled with dancing, Campus is no exception as Jubilation, Whitworth’s ministry dance club, prepares for its annual holiday showcase on Dec. 11 at 5p.m. on Stage 2 of Cowles Auditorium.
The showcase is made up of Jubilation’s dance classes: musical theater, hip hop, tap, beginning ballet, advanced ballet, gospel movement and contemporary modern.
Each class has been preparing their dance for the past month.
The hip hop class has been practicing since the middle of November.
While they rehearse, the dancers smile as their instructor and club chaplain sophomore Lindsey Smith teaches them the last steps to the dance they will perform at their fall showcase.
The dancers getinto three lines and become serious when the heavy bass of the Christian rap song begins thumping through the black studio speakers.
Smith, who dances in both the leadership and advent programs, has had her hip hop class working hard for the past few weeks in order to perfect their routine.
For the dancers participating, the showcase is an opportunity to show off the new dances they have learned. The showcase is an exciting time for sophomore Jeffrey Jamieson because it allows all the classes to come together since he will be dancing for both the hip hop and tap class, Jamieson said.
“Each class has been working hard for the past few months, having fun, and putting together dances,” Jamieson said. “The showcase is an opportunity for us to come together and have fun and show what we can do.”
Not only is Jubilation a club, but it is a ministry group that performs at Chapel services and made an appearance at the Women Ever Rising Conference hosted by Coordinator for Diversity, Equity and Inclusive ministries Stephy Nobles-Beans in November.
As chaplain of the club, Smith has high hopes for the holiday showcase, she said.
“My hope is that people can appreciate dance as well as be able to connect faith and dance,” Smith said. “One of my main goals with the club itself is to combine the two concepts of dancing and having a Christ-centered life.”
A goal for the showcase is to give the dancers an opportunity to show off what they can do and what they have learned as well hopefully recruit more people, said Smith. Admission to the showcase is free, in order to reach all who are interested.
Freshman Makayla Long is looking forward to dancing at the showcase so she can show what she has learned from her first year in Jubilation as well how hard she and her fellow dancers have worked, she said.
“The holiday showcase is an opportunity for me to show that I can dance,” Long said. “The showcase will prove how hard we have worked for the past few months.”
mlaakso20@my.whitworth.edu