Dance Fever

I've been under the gun work-wise in the past few weeks, but when I got a text inviting me to the annual fifth-grade oldies dance competition at Hillendale Elementary School -- well, really, what choice did I have?
In a delightful district-wide tradition, all the fifth-graders throughout the Unionville-Chadds Ford district have the chance to form their own lip-sync and dance teams, choose an "oldie" (defined as, ahem, anything before 1983), decide on costumes and choreograph a routine. The top three teams from each school are chosen in "American Idol" style, and then they go head-to-head at a district-wide dance-off between Hillendale, Unionville, Pocopson and Chadds Ford on the first Friday in March.
I had a great time watching all the kids. They were just astonishing: funny, athletic, enthusiastic. Rest assured, the theater program at Unionville High School will not lack for outstanding performers in the future. One boy did an amazing break-dancing solo, and some of the girls tossed off cartwheels, flips, splits and other gymnastic feats.
What a neat tradition -- and the money raised goes toward His Mission in Kennett Square, and the American Cancer Society.
(Retired Unionville Elementary School teacher and West Marlborough resident Don Silknitter adds: "The fifth grade dance started in 1985. Ray McKay and I held the first dance as a fund raiser to raise money for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty. The following year Ray added the lip-sync contest to provide entertainment for the dance. A tradition was born.")