Whether it's tap, jazz, ballet or cheering, Carolina Dance Academy students will be celebrating the late recording artist Prince this weekend when the company holds its annual recitals at Weldon Auditorium.
"Let's Go Crazy" will provide two varied performances of tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical, contemporary and hip hop dances, along with cheering and gymnastics. The recitals will be 2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. at Weldon.
"Our theme is centered around Prince," said CDA owner and operator Dixie Elliott, who also teaches at the school. "We have ordered special shirts for our 'Let's Go Crazy' theme."
Elliott said the girls will also celebrate the relationship made earlier this year with the Harlem Globetrotters. Several CDA dancers joined others from throughout the state in January to perform during the Globetrotters' half-time show in Florence.
The girls ordered personalized jerseys with No. 36 on them in honor of original Harlem Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon, who died in 2015.
"So, our dancers will be wearing the No. 36 again in his honor," Elliott said.
She said she holds two separate recitals to keep the overall time down.
"No one wants to sit through a four-hour recital," she said. "Some of the dances are the same in both, like the competition dances that have won awards. But there are dances that are only in one show or another."
Still, she does have parents who come to both shows, and some non-competition dancers do perform in both.
She said this year's recitals will also work for a good cause, the Turbeville Children's Home, which recently reopened. She said a needs list, available on the Carolina Dance Academy Facebook page, includes items like cleaning supplies, canned goods, toiletries, clothes hangers, bed sheets and sports equipment.
She said the studio on South Mill Street will be a drop-off site, and folks may bring items to the recitals Sunday to help the home.
"We're hoping we have a lot of people come out this year and enjoy what our dancers have worked so hard on," Elliott said.
