‘Everybody is a hero in their life’

Diamond Dance Project will celebrate heroes — both real and super — this weekend in its all-studio concert, “Academy of Heroes,” running April 5 and 6 in the Kenai Central High School auditorium.

Crystal Soyangco said during a Wednesday rehearsal that the show follows a school of heroes, “real life heroes” like firefighters and police officers, who must rise to the occasion when a larger-than-life problem arises. They’re joined by more fantastic heroes during the show, but ultimately, it’s those more mundane figures who save the day.

“Everybody is a hero in their life,” she said.

The show features Diamond Dance Project dancers of different skill levels and across different mediums. In addition to all the dance, many of the performers have been challenged to take on acting roles as different characters in the framing narrative. That’s in addition to performing contemporary dance, hula, ballet, jazz, hip-hop and tap.

0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%

00:00

During Wednesday’s rehearsal, dancers could be seen in bright costumes as recognizable superheroes, performing varied routines in a narrative pulled from theater screens.

The show has been an idea at Diamond Dance Project for years, originally a celebration of the everyday heroes in the community during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ambition of the show, integrating lights, lasers and other effects, led to the show getting shelved multiple times over the years.

Finally staging “Academy of Heroes,” Soyangco said, they’ve worked out all the special effects to put on a spectacle.

“We’re super excited for this to come to life,” Soyangco said. “This is going to be one to remember.”

“Academy of Heroes” runs Saturday, April 5, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, April 6, at 5:30 p.m. in the Kenai Central High School auditorium. Tickets can be purchased through a link on the “Diamond Dance Project” Facebook page. General admission is $14.78 after fees if purchased in advance, or $16.88 after fees at the door.

For more information, visit ddpsquad.com.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.

Diamond Dance Project rehearses “Academy of Heroes” at Kenai Central High School in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)