Ranger Road Trip! Where’s the Trip Heading?

From May 1st to 3rd, Redwood’s beloved dance program will be performing their dance show, ‘Road Trip’, and taking the ranger community on a one-of-a-kind trip from the comforts of the L.J. Williams Theater.

By: Ella Chan

Tickets are available through the QR codes posted on the right and through here!

Through the hard work of the dance staff Michele Lapp and Elisa Bardonnex, and the help of many student voices, the Redwood Dance program will perform their Ranger Road Trip. 

This is the program’s 25th year putting on a dance recital and they’re hoping to make it memorable for all!

Lapp shares that this was a show concept they came up with 2 years ago, but this year around they were asking the dance groups what themes could work for them.

“Initially, it was going to be called ‘Route 66’ but it was too specific so we tweaked it to ‘Road Trip’.” 

Not only was the theme a student-generated idea, but many other members put in their fair share to help develop their story. Students helping with choreography and design only adds on to the list of wonderful efforts that everyone puts in. 

“We tried to make it a real show, not just a recital… we [Lapp and Bardonnex] really spend a lot of time brainstorming with how to develop a theme,” Lapp says. 

The staff and students put so much time looking into songs, costumes, backgrounds, props, and coordinating the actual dances themselves. 

“We try making it entertaining for the audience and we try to keep their attention because it is a long show!” 

But she prefers how incorporating a lot of ‘bells and whistles’ and ‘head turning moments’ allow their attention to stay more focused on the program.

Lapp adds, “It’s really cool seeing everybody out there and everybody doing their best. We try to make every dance as equally entertaining.”

So what is the story and theme with the dance show actually about?

The road trip starts here at Redwood High School as the students enjoy their final pep rally before the trip. After that they prepare to head out on their adventure, which leads them to classic places around the U.S. They hit sites such as Hollywood, Vegas, New York, Florida. But after their round trip, they end up right back at Redwood.

“Redwood will always be our home, no matter where we go. This will always be our home.”

Michele Lapp

“We circle back and come back home and we start the show with we’re home, we venture out on our road trip, but then Redwood pulls us back home. And tying us back to Redwood will always be our home,” Lapp says.

With a production as big as this, there’s without a doubt a handful of struggles and new opportunities to grow. Lapp explains, “I think there’s a learning curve in there. We are bringing in a lot more technology into our shows, which we have been gradually doing. This show probably has more than any other as far as technology goes.”

This year they are putting the new tech in L.J. to use. To help share their story, the group is using the projector to create a background and an in between story as the dances transition.

In addition to this, “we have the students create videos that help translate the theme of the show and those will be shown in between dances, and we did that several months ago.”

The program has grown and evolved a lot since their first recital back in 2001.

Despite their growth, another challenge they continued to face was time! Lapp shares, “Every year we’re like, ‘We’re going to get a jump on this, we’re going to start early!’ and we do but it always ends up with some crunch time… It’s really fun to do all of that but it can be kind of consuming so we’re just not sleeping much right now.”

Along with dance recently completing their competition season, it’s been quite the time crunch for the group. 

At the end of the day, Lapp and Bardonnex are very proud of every dance ensemble. “All my classes have something special about them. I’m sure Mrs. Bardonex would agree, like my intro to dance they’re beginning dancers but they always amaze me with what they can do. We have a very cute theme for all our intro classes, and the audience ends up really enjoying that, just as much as the dance team and their competitive numbers,” Lapp says.

“I really am proud of every group. I think that’s what makes our show really entertaining.”

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