STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTOS BY THOMAS SMILEY PHOTOGRAPHY

The insects sat up and took notice when a marble fell from the sky into their garden. To them it was a wonderous object—quite unusual and wonderful—and nobody knew what it was.

Pre-professional dancers with Footlight Dance Company will bring this story by The Fan Brothers to life via modern dance Thursday night when they present a free public performance at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30. The performance will be staged at the Wood River High School Performing Arts Theater at the Community Campus.

The 45-minute performance is designed to show off the talents of the pre-professional company of dance artists taking part in Footlight’s annual school enrichment tour.

“One of the numbers is based on ‘It Fell from the Sky,’ which is a beautifully illustrated picture book about community, art and the importance of giving back,” said Hilarie Neely, director of Footlight Dance. “When Spider starts charging admission to see the marble, the insects become turned off by his materialism so eventually he realizes friendship is more wonderful than money.”

In the past, the school enrichment tours have focused on such themes as climate change or endangered species. But as Neely pondered this year’s theme, she realized that dancers, after all, are story tellers, so why not use dance to bring storybooks to life.

“Classic ballet has long brought to life such stories as ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘Cinderella.’ If you find a story that lends itself to the stage, it’s another place of inspiration. For me, pairing dance with stories seemed like a perfect fit—being open to finding new ways to capture children’s imagination and creativity.”

Neely partnered with The Community Library to find five stories that could represent such dance forms as ballet, jazz, tap, modern and hip hop.

A classic ballet piece focuses on a children’s story called “Goodnight, Moon,” which revolves around what a child sees when the moonlight streams through the window as they’re about to go to sleep. There’s a humorous piece and a whodunit spy piece.

“Hip hop has its roots in rapping and poetry so that piece uses spoken text with hip hop music,” said Neely. “As we performed the piece for the Hailey Elementary students, everyone knew the words so the entire theater broke out in song with everybody singing as the dancers danced.”

Footlight has taken a show on the road for 36 of its 40 years, the idea being to expose students to dance while allowing its older dancers to go through the regimen required of professional dancers on tour.

This year’s show involves 14 dancers who attend Wood River High School and The Sage School. Seniors Leila Brickley, Clara Gvozdas, Sarah Leidecker, Ellis Mallett, Grace Rushton, Natalia Simental and Romina Zavala, will be participating in their final year of performances.

“These dancers take multiple technique classes along with conditioning class every week. And they rehearse weekends for six weeks prior to the performances,” said Neely. “So, they’re assuming the life of a touring professional while still keeping up their academic class load at school.”