The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Have you heard the news? Live dance performance is back in Sisters.

Some 110 dancers aged three to 18 hit the streets with the latest edition last Saturday, June 19, in Sisters Dance Academy’s “Extra! Extra! Dance All About It!” recital held before a live audience at Sisters High School Auditorium.

“It was definitely a great event that was long anticipated,” said Sisters Dance Academy founder and teacher Lonnie Liddell.

The newspaper theme came out of a desire to “spread good news” after a long and challenging year and a half of virtual instruction.

“I brainstorm all the time about themes,” Liddell said. “Since we do two shows a year, usually, I kind of have a list.”

Jerry Baldock

Sisters Dance Academy dancers hit the stage at Sisters High School Auditorium in a long-anticipated live performance.

Developing dances around the newspaper theme and different sections (like sports) “was a fun, creative process,” she said.

Dancers performed in ballet and point, contemporary, jazz, and hip-hop.

The Academy was allowed a 50-percent-capacity audience in the large auditorium, so dancers got to hear the applause of a live audience for the first time in a long time. Organizing and setting up the event was made easier by working with a dance-recital ticketing outfit that blocked out where people could sit and what rows had to remain empty.

For Liddell and the dancers, the recital was a welcome step toward getting back to normal. A six-week summer session is set for July, and “we’ll hopefully be back to full swing in the fall,” said Liddell.

For information on classes visit www.danceinsisters.com.