Donna Frech holds 33rd annual recital this weekend

NORWICH – If you haven’t been to a dance recital in a while, you don’t know what you’re missing. That’s what Donna Frech, owner of the oldest continuously owned dance studio in Chenango County, The Donna Frech School of Dance, wants people to know. This weekend Frech will hold her 33rd annual dance recital. The older students will perform two shows at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Norwich High School. The younger students will perform two matinee performances at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

This year’s evening show, titled “Destinations,” will feature music from around the world. “It’s not just a dance recital. We have a theme that we incorporate. It’s more like a show, a performance,” Frech said, explaining that the action is non-stop, as the program progresses from one number to the next. “There are no dead spots,” she said.

The matinee performance has a similar theme. The program for the younger students, entitled “Are We There Yet?” will also feature a familiar range of songs from around the world. “One thing that really sets this studio apart is that here the younger kids are just as important as the older group,” Frech said. She explained that although the older students do go to competitions and often do very well there, her studio welcomes both those who are serious about dance and those who enjoy it as a hobby. “Our philosophy is everybody is important,” Frech said.

Frech has students ranging in age from the pre-dance class – for children ages 3 to 5 years old – to the adult class, all of whom will be performing at this weekend’s shows. She also has a full range of dancers at different skill levels and abilities. This year, the dance recital will feature performances from all of the school’s classes, including tap, jazz, lyrical, modern, acrobatics, hip-hop, musical theater, ballet and the pre-dance and adult classes. “The recital runs the full gamut, but hopefully it will be a pleasurable viewing for the whole audience,” she said.