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A Life of Music and Dance: St. Marys High School junior Autumn Harper thrives on stage

By Douglass Huxley 5 min read

ST. MARYS -- Some people hate being in front of crowds, or speaking to a large group. This isn't an issue for St Marys High School junior Autumn Harper.

"I love to share what I do with other people," Harper said. "I love to get to show them how hard I work on something or how hard we as a community, like as a group, like how hard the band works. I think that should be shown off. I love to share that with our community. And I think our community loves to see that kind of thing."

Harper keeps herself busy with a full schedule of extracurricular activities, especially in the performing arts. As a dancer since age 6, Harper now teaches the school's new dance team and helps choreograph routines. She said Laura Rinard, a counselor at the school, helped her get it started.

"We went to everybody, and she (Rinard) got kids interested, and we had 10 kids sign up for this year," Harper said. "Through the year they've learned different kinds of styles, and then we put the choreography together. I taught them all the choreography, and then they had a showcase."

This was the inaugural showcase for St. Marys' new dance team and was part of an art festival held by the school that also featured band, choir and art performances and exhibits. There were nine dance numbers performed, showcasing different styles like lyrical, contemporary, ballet, jazz, and hip hop.

"I think the dancers not only went out there and did their best but I think they did better than they have ever done," Harper said. "I've heard that everybody really enjoyed it, like the community really liked it. So I'm hoping next year it goes off even better."

Harper said she will only have one of the 10 students return next year but expects more to sign up. She said she structures the class to be an introductory course into dance.

"I try to keep it very simple because some kids take it as an outlet to express themselves, and some kids just take it as a fun class, and that's fine too," Harper said. "But some kids really want to just express themselves and that's amazing. And then some other kids just want to have fun."

Harper is also involved in choir, theater, marching band color guard and concert band, where she plays trumpet. Except for her brother who is a drummer, Harper said she comes from a family of trumpeters with her mother, two sisters and father all playing the instrument. She said she started in the band already knowing how to play.

"Fifth-graders walk in not knowing how to play an instrument. And I walked in already knowing how because my mom had already taught me," Harper said.

Last year was her first year trying color guard, where she spins flags and performs choreography on the field and sidelines during football games. She said she found that her 11 years of dance experience helped her with tasks like tosses and moves that require balance control. She said it also aided with learning choreography for their field show, which had a "Jackson 5" theme.

"We build pictures," Harper said about the performance. "So you march to build these pictures that go with the theme, and you have props that go with the theme, and flags that go with the theme, and that's what builds a field show."

Harper has been singing in choir since fourth grade and credits it for her success in auditioning for All-State Chorus multiple times. All-State Chorus is a statewide honor choir that selects around 300 high school singers each year through competitive auditions. She has attended All-State Chorus every year of high school so far, singing with the best vocalists from across West Virginia.

"It's really amazing to hear all 300 students unify together," Harper said. "I'm very fortunate that I've got to go as many times as I have, and I hope to get to go my senior year. I have so much fun with it."

She is also a member of the school's theater troupe and said she has been doing theater for as long as she has been doing dance. Last spring, Harper acted in their production based on the board game "Clue" and in the fall, she was part of the inaugural thespian play called "About Her," which competed at the West Virginia Thespian Festival.

She said this was the first time the St Marys theater troupe participated in the competition and they did really well.

"We actually made the top five," Harper said. "St. Marys has never done a thespian competition before this year. So to go from zero to top five in one year is absolutely amazing."

She said she is proud of the progress St. Marys High School has made reviving their art programs for students to explore their creativity.

"To get choir, to dance, to get theater, to band, to get all of this back on stage again, I think they (students) really really enjoy it. And I am very tickled that I get to have an impact on that," Harper said.

She said she is also proud of the community that supports the different programs at the school.

"If it's the band's time to shine, they support the band. If it's the theater's time to shine, they support the theater. If it's the football team's time to shine, they support that. So I think that's amazing, because we don't just focus on a certain kind of thing. We focus on everything," Harper said. "I think St. Marys is very inclusive to everything. And that's very rare to see."

In her free time she enjoys reading, especially romance novels, and hanging out with friends both from St. Marys and Roane County.

Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com

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