During the bombings of World War II in London four English siblings are sent to a country house where the youngest, Lucy, finds a wardrobe that transports herself and her three other siblings to the wonderful world called Narnia. The evil White Witch kidnaps one of Lucy’s brothers, Peter and the four siblings then meet the magical lion, Aslan and join him to defeat the White Witch to get Peter back.
Under the direction of Diane Hula and Ressa Zagnoli, ten dance classes, including The Van Nuys Dance Company, The Chronicles of Narnia were put on the Donna Hubbard Auditorium stage from December 7-9.
Each chapter from the book was turned into a dramatic dance piece. The siblings Lucy, Susan, Edmund and Peter, were played by senior Penny Epstein, senior Aleanna Delarosa, sophomore Leo Gragnani and junior Armando Pacheco respectively. The villain of the story, White Witch, was played by Junior Summer Cho and her assistant was played by Sophomore Malia Thomas.
The show ran about an hour and a half and the performers gained quite an audience throughout the viewings. Tickets were $10 at the door and $8 from a Dance Company member or either of the teachers.
There were some scenes in the show that stood out, like the two by Ms. Zagnoli’s Musical Theater class.
Junior Dilan Patton composed two musical pieces for senior April Cho, sophomore Tucker Chandler, senior Xavier Martin-Porter, senior Maya Diaz and himself to sing for the show.
“When I first started composing I went to Ms. Zagnoli and asked her what type of emotion she wanted me to invoke through the pieces,” Patton said. “When I got home I sat down at the piano with a notebook and worked. I made the first piece a seven part harmony with lots of dissonance because it is Aslan’s grand entrance. For the second piece I left the dissonance behind and instead made it more mourning appropriate as it was Aslan’s death.”
Considering the intensity of the show, some comedic relief was well needed. Mr and Mrs. Beaver were the perfect pair to provide that. They were played by, in order, sophomore Lucy Tallman and senior Hanna Berson.
This is Tallman’s second year in dance and third show altogether, but their first time being a name role on stage.
“It was super awesome to be able to become a character that allowed me to be myself,” said Tallman. “I’ve never done a dance show like this; I had a lot of free rein with how silly my dancing was. It was definitely my favorite dance show to do!”
While all the dancers enjoyed the show, seniors had an especially sentimental bond.
Senior Mishella Vishnevsky has been in Dance Company since her freshman year but this is her first time doing a show with not only a storyline but also so much audience interaction. She played the Red Bird, a character who tries to block the White Witch from Peter.
“It was definitely different from the other shows, the storyline heavily impacted how the show was presented and allowed collaboration with the audience,” said Vishnevsky. “It was a nice idea that Ms. Hula and Ms. Zagnoli put together.”
Because Vishnevsky is a senior, this is her last winter showcase, and it was definitely one to remember.
“I won’t be able to go back to high school and dance with Company again, so it’s all very sad and memorable,” said Vishnevsky. “I’m just glad we have such a nice Company this year, like a family.”
Penny Epstein, who played Lucy, is in Ms. Zagnoli’s Advanced Dance class.
“It was such an honor playing Lucy in our adaptation of Narnia,” said Epstein. “Honestly this has been one of my favorite dance shows because I was really able to act and dance. It felt more than just a normal dance show and I hope the audience could feel that.”
Ms. Zagnoli and Ms. Hula had been thinking about putting Narnia on stage for a while. Only up until this semester was the conversation brought up and explored. They both read the book series as kids so the story holds a special place in their hearts.
Since then, they have been coming up with ideas and ways to portray the story of Narnia as accurately as possible. Still there were troubles that the both of them faced.
“We didn’t get enough rehearsal time; enough time on stage,” said Zagnoli. “We also struggled with not having all the classes together at the same time too because it is all ten of our dance classes in one show. Overlapping characters and trying to do all of that when our classes are separate, is really tough to put it together.”
Still, Hula and Zagnoli are both very pleased with the result of the show.
“I really love that we created this story together with no stops, it was really refreshing,” said Hula.
