Emerge: All That Jazz

“

Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn. They teach you there’s a boundary line to music. But, man, there’s no boundary line to art” – Charlie Parker

Welcome to this year’s Valley Christian High School Emerge Dance Show, All That Jazz. We are so excited to have our dancers sharing their gifts with you tonight. We have added a fun treat this year, a live jazz band gracing our stage to ring in the festivities! We know all the music, dancing and energy will get you in the mood to fly!

Thank our tremendous faculty, staff and outside choreographers who developed, nurtured and created pieces that will leave a lasting legacy to our Department.

Shout out to my cast for their hard work and the blessings that they bring to this community!

Well done to the amazing technical crew, who work tirelessly to put it all together!

This is also a year of Alumni contributions choreographers and musicians alike! Special thanks to alumni Angela Li, Mia Zhang, Cassidy Pasket, Tori Evans and a huge well done to our own VCHS Senior Taye Jones who set choreography for our show. Thanks to our San Jose Jazz musicians under the direction of VCS Alumni Nathan McCann for keeping us lively! Tech Crew too under the direction of Alumni Keaton Miller.

The dynamism and joy that we as a dance community feel while being in the studio and creating together is what we hope you feel in your soul! It is a tremendous privilege to share our passion with you, so this concert is meant to get you moving, grooving and jumping for joy in your seat, enjoying the ride! It is our sincerest hope within our production that you will be encouraged, and inspired by God’s glory and purpose for us all. His story of love, grace and peace; that we believe can be revealed through dance, as God works through our talented students.

Now come on babe why don’t we paint the town….and ALL THAT JAZZ!

Blessings, MC

Musical Selection: Blues for Alice by Charlie Parker So, What? by Miles Davis Ornithology by Charlie Parker In the Mood by Joe Garland

Make it Look Easy Dita

Vivid Dance Team

Dancers: Allison Chen, Estella Chen, Jordyn Elford, Shiyu (CeCe) Gu, Maya Hsian, Sharis Hsu, Ekaterina (Katya) Kuzmenko, Emily Luong, Rebecca Rebello, Ava Suzuki, Mia Suzuki, Melinda Wong, Lucy Xie

Turn off the Lights

Chris Lake (Cloonee remix)

Damien Martinez

Dancers: Minjin Shin, Sophia Grabinger, Taye Jones, Brooke Johnson, Elaine Wang

Blame it on the Boogie

The Jacksons

Hip Hop 1 & 2 Kara Richey

Dancers: Sarah Bieber, Jack Carlson, Luna Han, Aubrey Heath, Taylor Johnson, Amani Lamba, Madison Lee, Brayden Merza, Mila Osuna-Summers, Kaelyn Pham, Chloe Sharpe, Peyton Skovmand, Sareili Sribhashyam, Cathy Tran

The Villain I Appear to Be

Connor Spiotto, Molly Pease

Dance Technique 2 & 3 Michelle McLaughlin

Dancers: Minhui Bartels, Hannah Bitter, Dylan Chang, Allison Chen, Hannah Darrow, Jordyn Elford, Eleanor Garlick, Sophia Grabinger, Arya Gulati, Maya Hsian, Brooke Johnson, Jordan Jones, Charlotte Kautzer, Hailey Mac, Emmalene Rosingana, Catherine Sandoval, Ava Suzuki, Claire Tan, Molly Tedeschi, Elaine Wang, Lucy Xie, Angela Yu

PROGRAM

Musical Selection:

Stompin’ at the Savoy by Edgar Sampson

My Discarded Men

Eartha Kitt

Tori Evans

Dancers: Minhui Bartels, Alice Duong, Brooke Johnson, Katya Kuzmenko, Gwenyth Lundgaard, Rhys McIntyre, Lucy Xie, Angela Yu

Musical Selection: O Pato by Jaime Silva and Neuza Teixeira

Midgets by Count Basie Cool Blues by Charlie Parker

Find Me

Sigma, Birdy Mia Zhang

Dancers: Adrina Hsieh, Taye Jones, Gwen Lundgaard

Just the Two of Us Grover Washington Jr., Bill Withers Nigel Shum

Dancers: Minhui Bartels, Dylan Chang, Alice Duong, Eleanor Garlick, Maya Hsian, Brooke Johnson. Jordan Jones, Ethan Li, Allison Roderick, Molly Tedeschi, Angela Yu

Time Alone with You

Jacob Collier, Daniel Caesar

Angela Li

Dancers: CeCe Gu, Adrina Hsieh, Emily Luong, Camryn Portera, Rebecca Rebello

Higher

Michael Bublé

Cassidy Paskett

Dancers: Minhui Bartels, Allison Chen, Taye Jones, Katya Kuzmenko, Gwen Lundgaard, Molly Tedeschi, Lucy Xie, Angela Yu

Musical Selection: You Stepped Out of a Dream by Nacio Herb Brown

Bang Bang

will.i.am

Hip Hop 3

Kara Richey

Dancers: Kayla Abaya, Brianna Garcia, Aaliyah Gonzalez, Arushi Gupta, Zali Smallcombe, Zara Smallcombe, Michael Villegas, Melinda Wong, Angela Yu

Can’t Buy Me Love

Michael Bublé

Dance Technique 3 Honors

Taye Jones under the direction of Michelle McLaughlin

Dancers: Kaitlyn Barck, Katelyn Chan, Estella Chen, Cece Gu, Adrina Hsieh, Sharis Hsu, Taye Jones, Amelia King, Katya Kuzmenko, Gwen Lundgaard, Emily Luong, Rhys McIntyre, Courtney Pacheco, Camryn Portera, Rebecca Rebello, Allison Roderick, Jessica Rogy, Mia Suzuki, Evangeline Trigg, Nicole Yavorski

Finale

Live Musical selection: All That Jazz by John Kander

Vocalist: Gwen Lundgaard

Dancers: Emerge Cast

Tori Evans is a Valley Christian alumnus born in Connecticut but raised in northern California, where she trained at Lana’s Dance Studio for 15 years. She received a dance scholarship to the University of Arizona where she obtained her BFA. While at Arizona, Tori was part of LADM Company for two years. She personally assisted, Dave Carter along with Jackie Sleight, Christian Vincent, Huggy Ford, Leo Morimune and Dejan Tubic. After graduating college, Tori toured internationally with Barbie Live! The Musical, Empire of the Sun and Ricky Martin. She returned from tour and moved to Los Angeles where she worked with companies such as Reebok, Lululemon and Sketchers. She has danced with artists such as Maroon 5, Pitbull, Backstreet Boys, Mary J. Blige, Beyonce and most recently Gwen Stefani. Tori’s TV credits include Miss America, Latin Grammys, A Christmas Story Live, The Price is Right, Kelly Clarkson, BET Awards and a speaking role on All American Home Coming. Tori can be seen on the last 7 seasons of The Masked Singer with a new title this season as Associate Producer. Tori brings her extensive experience and love for the art to the forefront whenever she teaches workshops around the world.

Angela Li is a VCHS class of 2022 alum currently attending Wellesley College on the east coast. She is currently a part of Wellesley Freestyle, the hip hop dance team at Wellesley College.

Angela has been dancing since she was 9 years old and was a part of Valley’s dance department and Vivid Dance Team. She choreographed “Time Alone with You” with the intention of it be a fun, light-hearted piece with bits of hip hop and contemporary integrated into the jazz dance. Working with the 5 talented dancers as she was setting the piece was a blast, and they really brought her vision to life. She hopes her piece can transform the audience to a fun night at a jazz club, where the night is forever young and everyone can get their groove on.

Damien Martinez was born and raised in Morgan Hill, California and started dancing at the age of 9. He first started training at Lana’s Dance Studio in Tap and Hip-Hop. A few years later, he started dancing competitively and trained in all styles including, Jazz, Ballet, and Lyrical. When he graduated from Live Oak High School, he was accepted into the University of Arizona BFA Dance Program. He then came back home to run Lana’s Dance Studio’s HipHop competitive teams for a few years. Damien is now living in LA pursuing his dance career but travels to the bay area working as a choreographer to many studios in the area.

Nathan McCann is a Valley Christian Alumni and is currently studying Music Production at the Berklee School of Music Online program. He has over 8 years of experience with the saxophone, and is a winner of numerous awards, including the Downbeat Magazine Student Music awards, Best High School Soloist. He has been a member of numerous ensembles, including the San Francisco High School All Stars, California All State Jazz Band, and the San Jose High School All Stars. Additionally, he led a quartet that won first place at the 2020 Folsom Jazz Festival, as well as second place at the 2022 Folsom Jazz Festival. In addition to saxophone performance and jazz studies, Nathan produces music on the piano, guitar, bass, and bass clarinet. Nathan also enjoys producing music and leading worship at VIVE Church in Mountain View. Nathan knows that music and creative expression is a gift from God to glorify His name, and hopes that the music in the show tonight blesses those who hear it!

Michelle McLaughlin is originally from San Jose, CA and returned to her home town after 9 dancing in New York City and abroad! Michelle brings over twenty-five years of performing and teaching experience to the Valley Christian Conservatory. She began her passion for dance at the age of 2 in her local studio, and was a competitive dancer with them for 12 years. She later earned her BA in Dance Arts from the University of California, Riverside in 2001, attending school on a dance scholarship as

a Gluck Fellow. After graduating from UCR, Michelle continued her dance journey and moved to New York City! Attending the prestigious arts school Sarah Lawrence College, she was honored to be a Bessie Schonberg recipient! Graduating SLC in 2003, with a MFA in Dance & Choreography, Michelle stayed in NYC to work as a dancer, teacher and choreographer for an additional 7 years. When not performing, she served on faculty for the NYC school district, as an Arts in Ed teacher with Circle of Dance and ran a pre-professional dance program in Long Island, NY. In New York, Michelle was the assistant to the Director, Beverly D’Anne at the NYC National Council of the Arts providing advocacy and funding to many of the top national dance companies! Michelle is currently the Associate Director of Student Learning for the Conservatory of the Arts, as well as the Director of Dance here at VCS, since 2013.

Cassidy Paskett is a dance teacher and choreographer based in the California Bay Area. Having graduated from Chapman University, Cassidy has gained both her Bachelors of Arts in Dance Performance and her Bachelors of Science in Kinesiology. Starting dance at the young age of three, Cassidy soon discovered her passion for dance performance and creativity through choreography. Cassidy has trained in the styles of Jazz, Contemporary, Lyrical, Ballet, and Hip Hop at numerous dance studios such as Coastal Vibe Dance Company, Spector Dance Company, and Lana’s Dance Studio. She has been recognized at both regional and national competitions with choreography awards, performance awards, and was also presented as Dance Spirit Magazines “Future Star”. Cassidy went on to obtain her collegiate education from Chapman University in Orange County. During her time at Chapman, Cassidy trained with professional dancers and choreographers such as Will Johnston, Alicia Guy, Jennifer Backhaus, Nancy Dickson-Lewis and many others. In tandem with her training, Cassidy pursued her passion for choreography in the collegiate setting. Once graduated from Chapman University, Cassidy brought her knowledge of dance training, proper body biomechanics and technique into the classroom. She has taught numerous master classes and workshops at nationwide studios such as Dance Network, Triple Threat Performing Arts, Captivating

BIOGRAPHIES

Dance by Nona, Pacific Arts Complex, and Lana’s Dance Studio. To further deepen her knowledge of dance technique and injury prevention, Cassidy attended the Performing Arts Medicine Association Conference in New York City where she, too presented Pilates research to her peers and fellow professionals in the arts medicine industry. Cassidy currently teaches at her home studio, Lana’s Dance Studio specializing in lyrical and contemporary choreography, as well as dance cross training and injury prevention. Cassidy continues to use her professional experience and collegiate education to enlighten young dancers on proper dance technique in tandem with artistic expression and integrity.

Kara Richey was born and raised in Brea, California and trained in dance for sixteen years in the Southern California area. She successfully graduated from Dance Precisions in 2015, after training under MKR Dance Productions for nine years. During her last two seasons at Dance Precisions, Kara taught and composed choreography for their competition team. Kara continued her dance training and graduated in 2019 from San Jose State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance. While studying in the San Jose State dance program, Kara learned from and worked with artists such as Kyle Abraham, Kara Davis, Mike Esperanza, and Doug Varone. She started teaching and choreographing in 2013 and is currently working with two competitive dance studios in the Bay Area teaching genres such as hip hop, contemporary, jazz, lyrical, modern, musical theatre, and tap. While continuing to teach, she is also one of the co-creators and board members of Commonality, a competitive adult hip-hop team. While teaching locally, Kara also travels around the United States to assist and cochoreograph for competitive dance studios as well as judge for Kids Artistic Revue National Dance Competition.

Nigel Shum has been dancing for 18 years and has been serving Valley since 2018. He currently teaches JH Hip Hop and HS Dance Technique. He is also the Co-Owner of Creative Culture Dance Academy with Rome Slater. He graduated from San Jose State University with a degree in Communication Studies.

BIOGRAPHIES

In his years as a competitive dancer he won numerous dance awards including Mr. Dance at the KAR Regional dance competition in 2012. He has training in various styles including: Tap, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Contemporary, Lyrical, and Ballet. At the age of 16 he taught his first Hip Hop class to children ages 8-12.

Mia Zhang, a current freshman at Northwestern University, is studying economics whilst pursuing a variety of dance opportunities. She has been training in classical Chinese dance since the age of five. Throughout her four years as a dancer at Valley Christian High School, Mia explored a multitude of other styles, such as jazz, contemporary, lyrical, character, and more. Having served as a Vivid Officer for two years and having choreographed for two Emotions dance shows, she has discovered her passion for collaborating with other dancers and sharing creative ideas. Some of her dance achievements include serving as a Conservatory Dance Fellow, winning WCE Dancer of the Year, and receiving a variety of other regional and national titles. She is excited to continue dancing throughout college with the intent to focus on developing her choreography skills.

Taye Jones, has been dancing for the past 8 years. He started dancing at Lana’s Dance Studio where he was on the tap and jazz competition team. Taye transferred to Valley in 8th grade and continued his dance journey there. When he started the choreography for Emerge he was so nervous teaching the dance students, but watching them in class fulfilled his heart and exceeded his expectations. They worked hard in every class and we’re receptive to any changes or corrections he gave them. He loved working with the dancers during this routine and collaborating with them for their input that would make the dance better. Taye wanted to make sure he highlighted their strengths to showcase what they were best at. He had so much fun choreographing this routine and hopes you enjoy watching!

WARRIOR FUND

While tuition covers 100% of our daily operational needs at Valley Christian Schools, it is through philanthropy that we enhance our campuses and programs. Donating annually to the Warrior Fund ensures that we can provide world-class educational opportunities to every student and nurture their unique Godgiven talents and abilities. We are committed to attracting and retaining top-tier educators and providing tuition assistance for families with a demonstrated need. Every gift makes a difference for our students; please consider donating to the Warrior Fund today. Learn more at give.vcs.net

UPCOMING EVENTS

uest Ball

presented by Extend the Gift

April 2023

Join us for our annual Quest Ball dinner and auction. Enjoy a night to honor and celebrate the Warrior legacy and Extend the Gift for current and future Warriors. vcs.net/questball

Spring 2023

We look forward to welcoming the VCS community for a round of golf and a day of fellowship at the annual Golf Classic. vcs.net/golfclassic

Thank you for partnering with us in creating Warriors: Tomorrow’s leaders properly equipped to serve God and family while positively impacting their community and the world.

Christi Stockhaus, Director of Advancement cstockhaus@vcs.net | 408-362-7649 give.vcs.net valleychristianalumni

No matter where you are, we’re here to support all of our alums as you lead, serve, and impact communities across the globe.

Alumni Association & Events

In 2021, Valley Christian Schools launched our first Alumni Association! Since then, we have traveled the country hosting events, connecting with alums, listening to stories, and building a network of ambassadors to keep our graduates connected no matter where life goes after high school.

We had a great time hosting reunions, cheering at our first alumni water polo game, and reconnecting at alumni business networking events across the country. We believe community is everything and look forward to our second season together. Follow our adventures on Instagram @vchsalumni. For the latest info on alumni events, visit our webpage alumni.vcs.net

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MISSION STATEMENT

Valley Christian Schools’ mission is to provide a nurturing environment o ering quality education supported by a strong foundation of Christian values in partnership with parents, equipping students to become leaders to serve God, to serve their families, and to positively impact their communities and the world.

VISION STATEMENT

A world where every student pursues their personal Quest for Excellence™

FOUNDING STATEMENT

Valley Christian Schools supports the homes and churches of students in providing an education that is grounded in the Judeo-Christian values of the Bible, as reflected in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. Valley Christian Schools is committed to a Quest for Excellence™ in all of its educational programs, and provides a comprehensive kindergarten through twelfth grade curriculum with a rigorous college preparatory program. Firmly founded on Christian values, Valley Christian Schools challenges youth to aspire toward lives of character, service and influence while pursuing their individual Quests for Excellence

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To support VCS, please call the Extend the Gift Advancement O ce at (408) 362-7644 or visit vcs.net/give.

Elementary (408) 559-4400 | JH (408) 513-2460 | HS (408) 513-2400 vcs.net | (408) 513-2500 | 100 Skyway Drive, San Jose, CA 95111