As the holiday season approaches, many dance studios find themselves increasingly busy rehearsing for their seasonal performances. Annually, the Performing Arts Academy of Marin (PAAM) puts on a show titled “The Holiday Spectacular” which follows the journey of Ella, a young girl in San Francisco, venturing to find her dream scarf which has been lost in the city on Christmas day. On the way, Ella encounters a series of dance numbers such as “Enchanted Window Display,” “The Rockettes,” “Angel Ballet,” “Hip-Hop Street Dancers,” “Nightmare Acrobatics” and numerous others. The Holiday Spectacular features many beloved holiday tunes and dancers ranging from age three-to-eighteen. The show is highly anticipated not only for audiences, but for the dancers as well.
For seniors Laine Seabern and Alexa Kofman, dancing in PAAM’s Holiday Spectacular is a tradition held close to their hearts for all of their dance careers, making the senior send-off bittersweet.
“I’ve been [dancing at] PAAM for 15 years. [The Holiday Spectacular] is a really fun tradition…it’s not as much about the competition and the stress of it, but it’s just a more comfortable show that we all have fun with,” Seabern said.
“I love PAAM because I love the community and I love dancing with all of my best friends,” Kofman said. “I’m in about 7 numbers [in The Holiday Spectacular]. My favorite number is either the Rockettes dance, because I would love to be a Rockette if I was tall enough, or Nightmare because I’m the Nightmare Queen this year.”
