“Entanglements,” the 2025 spring dance show, took place in Wrigley Theatre on May 1 and 2. The show featured pieces from student and guest choreographers alongside original compositions by Upper School dance teacher Adriana Durant.
Junior and dancer Morgan Sirek described the unique blend of material in this year’s show. “We had some students choreographing group pieces, we had some students choreographing solos, and then we had some stuff that [Ms.] Durant had choreographed all coming together to form this really different but still connected program,” she said.
These connections built a theme throughout the program, referenced even in the show’s title. Ms. Durant said, “Entanglements and relationships are—that’s an easy theme that you can just buy into.”
The show featured a wide diversity of pieces. “It’s Complicated,” a cast-favorite piece underscored by Bjork’s “Human Behavior” and performed by junior Kelsey Riordan and sophomore Keelyn Smey, was sharp, fast-paced, and angular. In contrast, “Vote for Pedro,” performed by seniors Jeremiah Wheatley and Kate Malaisrie, featured choreography from the film “Napoleon Dynamite” and garnered numerous audience laughs.
Some pieces were unique because of their associated technological feats, not just their performance quality. For one piece, “Wavelengths,” Upper School performing arts teacher Frank Schneider used a complex projection technique to add dynamic visuals on a screen behind performers.
“That projection was actually basically a frequency monitor, so it was taking different frequency bands of the piece and showing how high those different frequency bands are,” he said. The result: an entrancing background to senior Ari Stanton-Thomas and junior Alina Ballard’s duet piece.
The show's composition added another dimension to its excellence. While Ms. Durant choreographed much of the show, one piece was choreographed by guest choreographer Denita Inez. The piece used salsa elements and was a unique challenge for performers. Morgan said, “Learning [the salsa piece] as a ballet dancer was wildly out of my comfort zone—I don’t move my hips in ballet.”
Still, more pieces were choreographed by students—senior Mel Butler created a group piece called “The System,” while senior Sofia Grimm choreographed a solo to pay tribute to her final Dance Company performance at Latin.
Although the final production was seamless, Ms. Durant described the unique challenges of creating this year’s show. Due to a dance class called Chicago Dance not running this year, fewer guest choreographers were involved with the production, and Ms. Durant created more of the pieces on her own. She said, “That was three dances that I had to make or I had to fill a show without those dance pieces.”
For two of these three dances, Ms. Durant borrowed from a Thanksgiving show she had choreographed at the College of Lake County in the fall. Using this inspiration, she brought “Kitchen Dance” and “Soap Opera” to life on Latin’s stage, each of which reflected powerfully on family and the show’s theme of connection.
After months of hard work, Ms. Durant felt very proud of the final product she created with the dancers and crew. She said, “Each dance had the time it needed to kind of figure out what it wanted to be, and because I knew I had my hand in everything, I could make every dance really unique and distinct from the others.”
The dancers, too, were thrilled to see each other perform—sometimes, it rivaled their excitement about their own dances. Jeremiah said, “Getting to see the dances happen for the first time, no joke, almost cried at some of them because they’re really well done.”
Junior Allegra Cerda, who performed at Latin for the first time during the show, appreciated the chance to gain more exposure to dance, and considered the show a very positive experience.
She said, “I kind of understood what it meant now: being part of that community and getting to know those people and all of the work [Ms.] Durant puts in.”
