Today I decided to go watch a school dance production called STEPS which took place at the Mexican Heritage Plaza (a cultural center located in East San Jose). The plaza holds many different Mexican cultural events like, “Chile, Mole Y Pozole” which is hosted for the day of Mexico’s independence, “Avenida de Altares” which is to honor the holiday Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and “Fiesta Navideña” (Holiday Party) which is a gathering to celebrate Christmas and spend time with your loved ones. And of course they host STEPS.
STEPS is a show where it combines every single dance class and performing dance team at Lincoln merging more than 20 dances into one big show with different genres ranging from Hip-Hop to cultural dances like folklorico. The show ran Friday at 7:00pm, Saturday at 3:00pm and the finale at 7:00pm.
While entering the theater lobby you get greeted with a bunch of different snack stands. The snacks varied from chips like Hot Cheetos, Doritos, and Takis to candy like Kit Kats, Twix, Snickers, Paleta Payasos, Mazapanes and other different types of candies from both the U.S. and Mexico. Another snack stand sold conchas which is a type of Mexican bread and also aguas frescas which are refreshments, they came in the flavors of agua de pepino (cucumber water), agua de Horchata (cinnamon and rice water) and agua de Jamaica (hibiscus water). Prices were pretty good, you could get a small bag of chips for a dollar or a medium size one for 3, and you could buy refreshments for 5 dollars in a medium sized cup. Inside the theater it looks relatively small, it is similar to a movie theater, very comfy and warm vibes. Sitting on the higher view didn’t affect the show at all, in reality it made it look amazing, you could see the whole stage so clearly to the point you could see the rhinestones on the dancers’ makeup.
The first act started and wow, everything about seeing the dancers on stage was excellent. Everyone was full of energy, the costumes were top tier, almost every single costume had rhinestones which made it stand out. Xochitl’s costumes were also great, they were so full of colors and patterns and each dance represented a different part of Mexico so each costume was different depending on what the dance was. A lot of hip hop dances during this act were very fun, every dancer showed confidence and the costumes they wore were jerseys which made it even better and very fitting for hip hop. There were also a few character dances one being a Dr. Suess-inspired number that included characters like the Grinch, Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 and Thing 2. But my absolute favorite dance in act one that I wish I could watch again was LPC’s The Greatest Showman character dance.
Dulce Amaro, 11th grade, shared my opinion, “I also liked the Great Showman!”
Now, I’ve never seen the movie before, but when I say that the costumes, the songs, and the movie dialogue made the dance phenomenal, it would be such an understatement. Everything about that dance was more than just perfect. I loved how every dancer represented a different character and I especially loved that all their costumes had rhinestones because that made the costumes shine and look super professional. After their character dance was over it was now time for intermission but there was a surprise, right before intermission you got a surprise dance from the dance teachers and a few other teachers and staff members from school. They all wore matching baseball jerseys that were the color sky blue and all their last names were on the back of their jerseys.
After intermission act 2 started, and honestly this might be my favorite act out of both. This act was heavily focused on lyrical, Jazz, character dances and folklorico dances. I will say some fan favorites out of all of those would definitely be the character dances that were performed. Some of them were “Inside Out”, Cruella de Vil, and Despicable Me. My favorite dance out of all three was definitely Despicable Me specifically because they included almost every character like Vector, Gru, the minions and the evil minions. A dancer was also dressed up as the Moon which was such a fun concept to add.
“The Minion dance was also a great dance”, said Amaro.
Moving on to lyricals, the costumes were also very high quality and it was a nice touch that they all had matching hair pieces. Lyricals were very emotional and dancers showed the right facial expressions for a lyrical dance . The last dance that wrapped up the whole show was folklorico’s vaquero (cowboy) style dance and it was also received really well, their costume consisted of a vaquero hat, vaquero boots, skirts for the girls, jeans for the guys and different colored plaid shirts. All the elements from the costume and including the song, made the dance fit into one perfect piece.
The show ends with every single dance class that performs taking turns bowing while wearing matching shirts that say STEPS and have a nice design that changes every year. They also have a running tradition where every single year they bow to the song “Seize The Day” from the musical Newsies. Once every beginning, intermediate and advanced class finishes bowing, you get a mini dance from all the higher up classes like LPC, Xochitl and Convertibles who finish up the whole show. The show only lasts about 2-3 hours including intermission, every dancer there is absolutely amazing and it would be such a shame if you never go to any of the dance performances at Lincoln because you are missing out on all the amazing talented dancers who dedicate hours and rehearsals for these shows to happen and all the incredible dances that the teachers make by themselves.
