By CHRISTOPHER KING
Moapa Valley Progress
Windy weather did not stop the students of Ute V. Perkins Elementary School in putting in a great performance for an appreciative audience on Friday, May 11 on the playground of the Moapa school.
The festivities started out with Assistant Principal Kelby Robison welcoming the audience to the school’s annual Spring Dance Festival.
Robison then turned the microphone over to Lins Store Director Darin Leach. Leach presented Perkins with a check for over $4,000 from the School Cents program from Lins Grocery Store Rewards program.
From there the program moved on to the student performances. The dances performed by each class had been carefully rehearsed in recent weeks and each dancer was in costume and ready to go.
The school’s Patriot Rockers dance team got things started off with a routine to the song “One Foot”. It was a good opening act to the program.
Next to perform was the Early Childhood class. These youngsters performed the “Dinosaur Stomp.” The young children came on full of energy and in outfits complete with dinosaur hats. It was an adorable performance and they all did really great.
The Kindergarteners followed with a dance routine to the song “LMNOP.” This performance was well coordinated and the students did a great job.
Then came out the first graders, and their performance to the song “Turn.” Their routine was great, with each student completing their turns in unison was truly something to see. Towards the end of the routine, the wind intensified and disrupted the music. Unfortunately the routine was cut short by a minute or so, but the show must go on.
Next came the fourth grade class. Their act included the traditional Philippine dance tinikling. It involves two students keeping rhythm by tapping a pair of long sticks on the ground while two young dancers jump and step across the sticks as they are clapped together. The tinikling routine was performed to the sound of “Sports Jam Remix.” Every member of the fourth grade got involved, and each got a turn dancing and keeping the rhythm with the sticks. Great job fourth grade!
Then came second grade’s turn. They came out with sunglasses and danced to the song “Too Hot.” They certainly were ‘too hot’ and they turned in a terrific performance.
Next was the third grade who put on a great performance to the song “Dynamite.”
The final performance of the evening was by the fifth graders who performed the traditional May Pole dance. The kids executed the braiding of the maypole quickly and without a hitch. Then, in keeping with tradition, each child invited a special person of their choice from the audience to come up and perform the May pole dance again with them. This time the braiding dance was not too bad. But it clearly wasn’t as easy as the fifth graders made it look the first time around. Still, the adults from the audience managed to complete the dance.
Robison had this to say about the Spring Dance Festival: “I’d like to thank the parents for coming out and supporting their students, and the PTO for helping get this together. Also thank you to the teachers for taking the time to put these wonderful performances together.”
