(above) Warren Middle School 7th grader, Sania Shareef is all smiles during her performance weekend of Over the Rainbow.
Sania Shareef Performs in Off-Broadway Hit
Submitted by Meher Sultana
Sania Shareef, a 7th grade student at Warren Middle School, has had a passion for dance since she was three years old. She loves lighting up the stage with her unique energy and confidence for each performance. In the past, Sania Shareef participated in a Nickelodeon live show in NYC. She was also in a Halloween commercial for the Universal Kids TV Channel.
On the weekend of January 4-6, 2020, Sania performed in an off-broadway show called Over the Rainbow (OTR) in NYC. She participated in the show on forty-second street at the Playwrights Horizons Theater. This show is based on the movie “The Wizard of Oz,” although modified as a modern version. Over the Rainbow is about a young girl named Dorothy who becomes lost in a tornado. This causes Dorothy to drift into a deep sleep. She then finds herself in Munchkin Land as she wakes up. Along the way, Dorothy meets three new friends like the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion. These four friends have to pass many obstacles and the witch together to get to the wizard to be sent home.
This off-broadway show was originally a five-minute competition dance. After the first competition performance, one of the judge’s responses was, “This dance should be on Broadway.” The producer/director of this play, Marlowe Scott, took the message to heart and wanted to make this dream come true.
OTR first premiered in July of 2019. This was the first time the cast members did the routine out of the competition world. At the beginning of January 2020, the whole new cast performed its broadway premiere show. Over the Rainbow was sold out for all four shows in NYC. Scott hopes for this production to gradually grow and make it on Broadway. For this show, cast members came all the way across the country to participate. All of the members came together from different dance studios and put on an outstanding, power-packed show!
Sania enjoyed her journey to finally make it to the Off-Broadway theater.
