By Daniel Witter Appeal-Democrat
Late Sunday afternoon behind the stage curtains at Marysville Memorial Auditorium, about 30 dancers from Jacque's Dance Expressions fidgeted while waiting for the curtains to open.
Standing in black outfits, the performers, ages 6 to 21, talked excitedly as a woman walked around the stage with a fog machine to create a mist for their performance.
Several minutes later, the backstage lights went dark and the performers went silent as they got into position. The lights came back up, the curtain opened and the dancers burst onto the stage into a Batman dance routine before a crowd of about 500 people.
Backstage, Jacque Dake was walking around overseeing the offstage chaos as the performers scrambled about in the dim light looking for different props throughout the performance.
Such was life backstage at the Dance 2002, where about 250 performers sang and danced their way through the 21/2-hour show.
Dance 2002 was held to raise money to repair the Marysville Memorial Auditorium and for the Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts. The show was produced by Jacque's Dance Expressions and Bonny Vipperman, John Pimentel and John Skeffington from the Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts
"We've been hitting it hard for about the last three months," said Dake about preparations for the show.
Among those performing were Multicultural Arts Youth Alliance, a dance group which performs traditional Mexican dances from states such as Jalisco, Nayarit, Chihuahua and Durango.
During one dance, four males danced with knives, slapping them behind their backs, under their legs and flipping them into the air, as four female dancers spun and twirled their dresses behind the men.
The Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts choir sang "Pack She Back" and Mozart's "Messy Room Sonata." About 20 members from the Bethel AME Choir also performed.
Later, students from Yuba City Martial Arts Center Kuk Sool Won demonstrated different series of martial arts maneuvers, from back flips to taking down an attacker.
Students from other dance schools such as Dean's Dance Center, Rakela Academy of Dance and Mexican Folklorico de Park Avenue School performed as well.
