DanceSations School of Dance is celebrating its tenth anniversary with a recital, The Greatest Show.

As part of that, dancers will revive their favourite performances from over the past decade.

LaKeira Cunningham is travelling in from New York City for the show.

The dancer recently completed a two-year programme with Joffrey Ballet and a four-month course at the Broadway Dance Centrem and is now navigating the American work-visa arena.

As one of DanceSations’ first students, she was happy she was able to spare the time to celebrate the school’s milestone.

“I am in two dances that I did in 2018,” Ms Cunningham said. “It is great revisiting that choreography, but it is revamped. It is so fun. It brings back a lot of memories.”

Owner Holly Pacheco is proud that so many of the company dancers joined at the age of 7, as part of DanceSation’s jump-start programme.

“We started that programme for children who showed a little more potential,” she said. “We still make it fun, but it is for the ones we think we can push a little bit more.

“It has been exciting to see these guys grow, and evolve from when they were little to where they are now. We have gotten them right where we wanted them to be.”

Courtney Rego, 17, is one of those dancers. Like LaKeira, she was there at the start.

“It has been really fun the whole time. I have tried to stay as long as possible because I love it here,” the teenager said.

Out of the ten numbers she is doing, the most challenging is a jazz piece.

“I do not go off the stage once,” she said. “It is very technical and really fast. When I do have a dance with breaks I usually stand offstage taking lots of deep breaths.”

She enters her final year of high school in September.

Balancing dance and school was challenging when she was a student at Saltus Grammar School. During the pandemic she switched to an online school in America. It has made a big difference.

“Now I can choose my schedule and what classes I want to take,” she said. DanceSations has helped build her confidence.

“A couple of years ago I never would have thought about auditioning for Gilbert & Sullivan, but I have,” she said. “I was in the ensemble for their show The Addams Family, earlier this year, and I recently auditioned for another musical.”

Marlee Place, 14, also began in the jump-start programme.

“It is challenging balancing dance and school work right now, because the recital period happens to coincide with exams at school,” said the Mount St Agnes Academy student, who is in 15 dances in The Greatest Show. “I try to study when I am not on stage.”

She takes dance classes Monday to Saturday and would take them on Sunday also, if she could.

Amaya Husband, 15, started dance lessons as a toddler in the United States.

She joined DanceSations when her family moved to Bermuda a decade ago.

“My first class at DanceSations was a combo class,” Amaya said. “There was tap and ballet. I wore a cute little skirt with tassels. I was five. I found DanceSations to be so fun. The environment was just so positive. I liked the teachers. We did little warm-ups that made me excited.”

Her dream is to become a professional dancer in Los Angeles, California.

“I have been looking at commercial jobs; I watch videos. I think wow, I want to do this so bad.”

DanceSations students have been accepted to summer intensives in the United States with companies such as Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and Debbie Allen Dance Academy.

LaKeira is grateful for her experience with the Debbie Allen programme a few years ago as it helped her to step out of her comfort zone.

“I am fine at DanceSations, but when we travel away I get really shy,” she said. “After the Debbie Allen summer programme finished, I regretted that I did not step out of my comfort zone more. So when I went to Joffrey, that is when I really started to grow hugely to the point where I am now.”

At Joffrey she initially felt intimidated because everyone around her seemed like such a good dancer.

“The level of dance was really high,” she said. “I was pretty good, but they were amazing people. But I evolve quickly. If I see the best dancer on the bar, I go and stand next to them and try to mimic them. That is how I improve a lot. I am very observant.”

She said it is easy to feel intimidated in a place like New York or Los Angeles, but her advice to students is don’t give up, ever.

“Everyone starts at a different place,” she said. “Some of those people may be way older than you. You will get to that point. Don’t compare yourselves to others. Stay in your little bubble and believe in yourself.”

The Greatest Show takes place on Friday and Saturday at 7pm at the Ruth Seaton James Auditorium. Tickets are $38 and available at www.bdatix.bm. For more information see dancesations.bm