Students at the University of Virginia heralded the start of the holiday season early this year, celebrating the traditional Lighting of the Lawn festivities virtually on Thursday evening before they return home for the remainder of the semester.
The event is typically held in early December and brings thousands of students and members of the community to the Lawn for a two-hour extravaganza of performances in front of the Rotunda. The pandemic forced student organizers to get creative, so they invited student groups and community members to submit videos of their performances for this year’s program, the theme of which was “Finding Our Light.”
One especially adorable performance came from Ella Watson, an 11-year-old who studies acting at the Charlottesville location of the DMR Adventures performance arts academy, whose mission is to build community through the arts.
Watson put on a charming performance of the song “Sparklejollytwinklejingley” from the Broadway musical “Elf.” UVA Today invites you to enjoy Watson’s performance and those of the other singing and dancing UVA student groups who participated in Lighting of the Lawn on its 19th anniversary.
Following Thanksgiving recess, students will finish out the remainder of the semester from home to reduce the possibility of spreading COVID-19.
