Director Devon Groff said there is nothing quite like it.

Guests can enjoy a unique experience during the Hempfield High School Dance Theatre's production of "Magic and Mystery."

Shows will be staged Thursday, April 30, through Sunday, May 3, at the school's Performing Arts Center, 1555 Kauffman Road, Landisville.

The April 30 show at 7 p.m. is Senior Citizen Preview Night sponsored by the Hempfield Foundation. It is for Hempfield residents age 65 and over; no tickets are required.

There will be reserved seating for the performances on Friday, May 1, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, May 2, at 7 p.m.; and May 3 at 2 p.m. To purchase tickets, go to http://www.hempfieldsd.org/activities/performing-arts/ticket-information.

"Dance Theatre is a show unique to every single year," director Devon Groff said. "We create a brand-new concept show every single year. This year we have over 100 students performing in the show between 12th grade and all the way down to ninth grade. "It's an all-dance theatrical performance, so there's no spoken lines, and it's all a story told through dance and music."

Senior McKenna Straley is a principal dancer. "We have a lot of magical concepts, mythical creatures, hypnosis, magic itself, bunny and a hat magic," she said. "If you think of mystery shows like Scooby Doo or Pink Panther trying to solve the mystery, stuff like that."

Classmate CJ Skiles explained how the production works. "There is three different parts of the cast," he said. "There's a principal dancer group who people can go to from the cast. They kind of like rely on them. They're the leaders. Then there's the featured group. There's now a featured hip hop group this year and then the whole big cast. Everybody has their own specific role in the cast."

Senior Hannah Keller noted, "It's a really fun theater performance, and it's different from musicals. Other schools have musicals, but this is just dance."

Groff added, "There's nothing like this in our surrounding area, and we've been around for so long, and we're such a staple in the community that a lot of people know what to expect when they come into Dance Theatre to a performance. But it's always different every time. While they know it's going to be high quality dance, high quality show, high quality tech, they don't know exactly what they're walking into, so it's always a surprise and it's always a new experience for the audience, which is what we like to give them."

The process requires teamwork according to CJ and McKenna. "This is very student-run," said CJ. "There's a lot of student involvement with tech."

"Community too," added McKenna. "All the parent volunteers who helped during tech and costuming. It's very like hands-on from everyone in the community."

The principal dancers are Addalyn Bower, Addie Aument, Alyssa Shreiner, Amisha Batista, Ashley Keller, Aubrey Bower, Ayla Vieland, Brendan Lutz, CJ Skiles, Danielle Lutz, David Becker, Derek Harris, Eva Crossland, Hannah Keller, Hudson Guengerich, Julianna Spencer, Kylee Thomas, Maddie Snyder, McKenna Straley, Natalie Houck, Reese Szulborski, Sarah Buckbee, and Xavier Brandt.

The featured dancers are Adriana Falcon, Aleeza Virmani, Amber Fisk, Ari Lopez, Audrey McRobbie, Christian Stokes, Emelina Guzman, Eva Delroux-Spalding, Isabella Gracey, Jovie Robinson, Lauren Whitacre, Lucy Thang Cing, Mackenzie Wilkerson, Maddy Miller, Mila Wachstein, Myles Greer, Quinn Prusch, Seriyah Anderson, and Sophia Raff.

The production team is composed of Groff, associate director/choreographer Bethany Joyce, choreographer Cody Smith, assistant directors Jordan Strybos and Macy Bui, rehearsal assistant Ilisa Chasser, and teacher adviser Stephanie Henrich.

"What we really hope that every year the students get out of this is how to form a good work ethic and how to be collaborative with a big group of people and a team," Groff said. "This year specifically with the theme of our show, we try to teach something throughout with the theme. This year's theme is obviously 'Magic and Mystery,' and we want to really show the students that the magic can be found within them and that they can share that magic with other people."