Signing, twirling, jumping, and creativity: these are just some aspects that made the 30th Annual Benjamin School Variety Show special. This year, The Best is Yet to Come celebrated the history of the Variety Show and our arts programs.
Part of the reason the Variety Show is such a wonderful event is that it brings the whole community together for a night of entertainment. Lower School students, Middle School students, Upper School students, alumni, parents, and teachers all came together to show off their talents in both musical and dance numbers.
Mrs. Salivar, Performing Arts Department Chair and foundress of the Variety Show, shares why this year was so remarkable: “This year’s 30th Anniversary Variety Show was very special to me. I was smiling from early Saturday morning, and I even fell asleep smiling that night. To see everything come together from lighting, to sound, to stage managing, to props, to costumes, to performers, and to see all the many facets of TBS put their heart and soul into this show filled me with pride and joy.”
This year’s Variety show went so well because of the hours of preparation and planning done by both performers, Mrs. Salivar, the two co-chairs of the event, Oniz Musibay Sánchez (P ‘26 and ‘29) and Molly Stringer (’95), and all of the other volunteers.
Senior and Dazzler Bridget Stein explains how they prepared: “For the Variety Show, the Dazzlers practiced every day after school and on Saturdays for the various dances that we performed. For the three weeks before the show, we began to stage and tech all of our dances with Mrs. Salivar and the stage crew.”
“Every element was carefully planned, students were carefully prepared, and all of the hard work that led up to Saturday’s productions was well worth the time, energy, and rehearsal. To see our talented alumni return to grace the Benjamin Hall stage was such an honor. I am ever so grateful for our wonderful ‘behind the scenes’ folks who worked tirelessly to prepare for this production,” expressed Mrs. Salivar.
The performances this year were extremely unique, but still included some traditional numbers such as the father-daughter dance and the boy-girl dance. In true Variety Show fashion, the Dazzlers also performed many pieces on Saturday evening.
“My favorite dance was probably ‘Our Favorite Son’ because it was the most unique dance. This dance was also one of our easiest dances to perform and the most visually pleasing to the audience,” expressed Stein.
One especially unique performance was that of the middle school Sparklers in conjunction with the middle school STEM students. In this performance, drones were coded to perform with the dancers on stage, something that has never been done at the show before.
“I loved that Mrs. Ramirez incorporated drones into one of her dances,” shared Mrs. Salivar.
Overall, this year’s Variety Show offered the same caliber of performances and continued to exemplify how special and important the arts are to the Benjamin community.
Congrats to all of the contributors to The Best is Yet to Come.
As Mrs. Salivar exclaimed, “The Arts are thriving at TBS. May the tradition continue!”
