52nd Annual Stardust Revue—

Talent Of All Ages Punctuates Annual Lathrop Recital

By Sherri Smith Baggett

Glitter. Make-up. Costumes. Tap. Jazz. Ballet. Stage. Lights. Audience. Action!

The excitement stirs and before you know it, the theatre curtain is pulled and the dancing starts. The 52nd annual Stardust Revue, the spring recital of Lathrop School of Dance, opened this year with its longstanding tradition of the graduating seniors performing the Stardust Overture. What followed, for five performances over the weekend of June 4-6, was an exhilarating show of young performers showcasing their talents learned from the Lathrop School of Dance.

Starting with the ever so talented Stardusters to the young babies of three years and older, there was excitement and toe tapping for everyone.

“This is one of the best shows I have seen the kids perform,” stated Ginny Lathrop, the director and founder of the oldest dance school in Newtown. “They get better every year.”

Mrs Lathrop has many different groups of dancers, and many students having been together since their start at the school, including the Stardusters, Jr Stardusters, Lathrop Dancers and Jr Lathrop Dancers. There are over 300 dancers taught each week by the faculty, led by Mrs Lathrop and Miss Diane Wardenburg.

To their credit, Mrs Lathrop and Miss Diane have taught their students to have poise, good attitude and lots of energy when they dance. The talent and years of experience can be seen on stage as well as interpreted in the program. Over 100 dancers are listed with five years or more experience on the awards page. Combining all of the years of those awarded dancers amounts to over 1,100 years of experience brought together for each performance.

Many combined years of talent were seen in a dance performed by the Lathrop School of Dance faculty in the number “Thriller.” The lights are dimmed and suddenly the seemingly dead bodies come dancing alive in a twisting, turning jazz performance that also brings the crowd alive.

Moods change and youngsters come out tapping to the fast beat of Britney Spears, in sync with the quick beat and each other. To change the pace, the “mothers’” group found their youth as they danced to the Broadway Chicago hit, “Roxie,” moving and grooving to the beat throughout the number.

Closing out the first half was a revival from the past, “The Circle of Life,” performed by the Lathrop Dancers. A crowd favorite, it closed the first half on an upbeat note.

A group of young dancers opened the second half to another Broadway hit, “Hairspray,” sporting their multi-colored tinsel hair and psychedelic costumes. Throughout the show, Mrs Lathrop had performances dedicated to Dr Seuss’ birthday, the armed forces and even a change in season with the “mothers’” group returning to dance to “Jingle Bells.” A group of teenagers performed in “Tapping With Elegance” which was choreographed in true “Lathrop” style.

The attitude of all the dancers was positive and energetic. After performing five shows over the weekend the smiles continued through to the end. “The kids continue to amaze me,” said Mrs Lathrop. “I’m very proud of them all.”

Once again, the Lathrop School of Dance dedicated two of the performances during the weekend, Friday’s performance in honor of the Danbury Hospital Pediatric Unit and Sunday’s performance was dedicated to the Newtown Scholarship Association.

To close out the final two performances of the 52nd Stardust Revue, master of ceremonies Jerry DeLuccio invited five-year-old Caleb Wardenburg to join Mrs Lathrop, escorted by his parents, Joel Wardenburg and Lathrop instructor Miss Diane, during the finale to sing “God Bless America” in honor of our troops overseas. It brought the crowd to its feet, a fitting end to a wonderful performance by children and adults of all ages.