As an ex-dancer who was dedicated to the craft for almost 10 years, I consistently look forward to attending the annual Silver Wings’ spring show. While it makes me miss the sport, I absolutely love watching the Wings fly on stage. This year, the show debuted April 27 and will be performed April 28 and 29 at 7 p.m in the auditorium. I got the opportunity to attend the final dress rehearsal for the show, and the Wings blew me away. 

The annual spring show is a dance recital performed by the Silver Wings drill team. The show also features performances by other fine arts organizations, including orchestra, the drumline, color guard and the Hawkapella choir. This year, the show was titled, “She Left Her Mark,” dedicated to honoring women who have left their mark throughout history, from Rosa Parks to Marie Curie. Voice-overs before each dance explained the women’s contribution to society, and the Wings echoed them perfectly. 

In comparison to last year’s show, “The Search,” this performance was much more on-theme. Last year, it felt as though the team was performing a variety of dances they took to competitions, and the voice-overs for each performance were stretching to find a connection to the theme. This year, there were some obscure costumes and songs, different from what you would normally expect out of a traditional dance recital, as they were used according to the theme. Each dance was dedicated to a certain group of women, whether in sports, science, social media or technology. It all made the performance feel more like a consistent show, rather than a recital showcasing completely varying dances. 

My favorite pieces were the lyrical and contemporary dances. The choreography, music and facial expressions always make me emotional. And the daddy-daughter dance was unmatched — as always. The most impressive part of the show each year is how they consistently get dads of high schoolers to agree to dance on stage. I found myself smiling and laughing the whole way through.

I have never been able to properly critique choreography. I can’t comprehend how people just come up with moves and dances on their own, and I have genuinely never watched a dance in which I thought the choreography was below par. So I feel comfortable saying the choreography was honorable. It is insane to me that high school officers are choreographing most of their own dances, and that creativity alone is worth raving about. 

My only complaints are in regards to the technical aspects of the show. I really enjoyed the video compilations of memories throughout the year shown, but the rest of the projections felt random. During the big novelty dance, as a voice-over introduced each woman being honored, a projection of them was shown, but photos of every other woman mentioned during other dances was not projected. It felt random, especially for any other audience member who didn’t realize the big novelty dance had any sort of significance. But the quality of the dances is the focus of the show — and that alone made the performance worthwhile.

Overall, I found myself much more entranced with “She Left Her Mark” than previous spring shows performed by the Silver Wings. The costumes, choreography and talent was all excellent. If you are free this weekend, I would highly recommend you visit hebronsilverwings.org to purchase tickets.