Over 250 students from across School District Five of Lexington and Richland Counties participated in the 10th annual D5 Dance Day. Students were trained by dance professionals and introduced to a variety of dance styles including: Modern, Jazz, Hip-Hop and African and were treated to a special choreography session by two professors from Columbia College at the end of the day.

Dutch Fork High School dance teacher and this year’s coordinator of D5 Dance Day Maddy Thiemann said D5 Dance Day is about exposing young dancers to a professional dance environment.

“A lot of these students don’t get to see stuff like this. We have them in class every day and we expose them to these styles every day, but to be able to take it around other students is a really big thing for them,” Thiemann said.

Stephanie Wilkins, former adjunct professor at Columbia College and The University of South Carolina, has been coming to teach students on D5 Dance Day for four years now.

“Dance is such a disciplined art, whether the kids go on to dance in college or whether they go on to dance in the rest of their lives is irrelevant,” Wilkins said. “What’s important is that they are learning this discipline. It carries into the rest of their life and dance is a great metaphor for life in that it is really in the details and they learn those tools to take them into the rest of their lives whether they continue dancing or not.”

Brantley Patten, a seventh grader at Chapin Middle School, said she was invited on a whim to D5 Dance Day and has loved every part of it.

“My drama teacher invited me and I immediately loved the idea,” Patten said. “We’ve had so many different genres of dance that were taught to us by amazing choreographers and it’s been so much fun to come together with people from different studios and different teams and just have fun together. I thought it was going to be awesome and it has been!”

Danielle Harrell, a senior at Irmo High School, is passionate about dance and has been attending D5 Dance Day since middle school.

“It’s really rigorous learning all the choreography and having to keep up with everyone and you have to really be aware of all your surroundings because there are a lot of people in there,” said Harrell. “I think a day like today is extremely important because to be here and experience these different styles has really broadened my surroundings and knowledge of dance.”

Schools that participated in D5 Dance Day included: Chapin High, Chapin Intermediate, Chapin Middle, Dutch Fork High, Dutch Fork Middle, Irmo High and Irmo Middle School.

After the all-day training, students held a benefit performance for the Harvest Hope Food Bank, which allowed the dance programs in School District Five a way to showcase their talent for a good cause.