The students - as intrepid space explorers - subdue the villain in The Adventures of Andromeda Starr

This year's production, The Adventures of Andromeda Starr, was "light years" away from your average dance recital. Written by the Center's theater director, Jeffery Edwards, the show was a slightly comic homage to the sci-fi television shows and movies of the 1970s and 1980s, such as "Buck Rogers", "Star Trek" and "Flash Gordon."

Styled as "Episode #22" of a fictional television series, the show followed space captain Andromeda Starr and her plucky crew (played by the theater arts class) after they have crash-landed on an unknown planet filled with many strange beings (portrayed by the dance classes) - none of which seem to have originated there. The crew had to find a way to repair their ship, solve the mystery of the strange world, and deal with the shadowy presence of an intergalactic criminal who would stop at nothing to carry out his evil plans!

The show's cast included the wonderful dancers of the Center for the Performing Arts; Mary Simon as Captain Andromeda Starr; Drue Polkey as Ensign Tamara Swift; Kaleb Waguespack as Lt. Jonathan "Jet" Randall; Ethan Hubbell as Dr. Dexter Daedalus; Madeline Edwards as Ensign Zahna; Emma Edwards as Keeta; Ke'ara Aubert as Bani; Hayley Menge as Zoop; Emily Alexander as Lira and Drama director Jeffery Edwards as the villainous Vork.

"We're not satisfied with just having our students come out and dance to a random bunch of songs," said Center dance director Rikki Edwards. "Our goal is to put on a production that the students' parents will enjoy as a whole, and not just for the parts that their children are in.."