The 11th annual Save the Music festival was a day of singing, dancing, music, and family-filled fun at Twin Pines Park

This year, part of Carlmont intermediate and advance teams performed, making it their sixth year performing at the festival. They performed excerpts from six dances, all of which were choreographed by the students and performed at their spring dance show last year.

When asked about how she thought the performance went, senior Jessica Real said, “I thought it was really fun to perform the pieces from our spring show because I really missed them, and my favorite dance to perform was probably Charley’s dance called “Let’s Go” because I really like the choreography and I think it always looks nice on stage.”

When asked about what her favorite dance to perform was, senior Kiana Yekrang said, “My favorite dance would be my dance because it’s hip hop and so upbeat and gets everyone excited…A lot of the dancers liked it and it was something different. I had fun choreographing it.” Yekrang choreographed the piece with advance dance students Real and Logan McPherson.

Although the performance was successful, the performers faced some difficulties during the performance. Yekrang said,“Staging was kind of hard because the stage was really small and slippery, and for dance you should have a pretty sticky stage.”

Despite these problems, dance teacher Ame Secrist was happy with the results, “I thought the performance went really well. The stage was really small so the kids had to perform their dances in a smaller space than usual but we prepared for that. The venue is more casual so the kids tend to let go a little more and have fun and the audience liked it.”

To keep up the fun spirit of the show, the students ended the show with a finale which included audience participation. The performers invited young kids from the audience on stage and taught them easy dance moves. Overall, the  performance was a fun, energetic, and engaging experience for both the performers and the audience.