Presenting beautiful dances and stunning performances, the dance team gives students a new opportunity to display their talents. They recently made history by hosting their first ever showcase on Sunday, February 26.
The team kicked off the night with a Britney Spears and Missy Elliot mashup. The night was filled with catchy music incorporated with impressive visuals.
2022 graduate Neala Jacobson-Dicks is the coach and choreographer for the dance team and is delighted with the performance the girls put on and their effort throughout the season.
“It was amazing to watch the team bring my visions to life [at the showcase] and add their own personality to each of my dances,” Jacobson-Dicks said. “It was fun to get to work with the girls one on one and see each dance come together.”
The team performed all of the numbers they did for their halftime shows during the basketball season, as well as some new dances. Jacobson-Dicks enjoyed seeing the team’s hard work pay off in the end.
“I couldn’t have imagined [the showcase] turning out as amazing as it did, but everyone did their part and we all worked together,” Jacobson-Dicks said.
Senior member of the dance team, Chelsea Nawrot, was thrilled to exhibit the team’s hard work to an audience. Along with the group dances, she performed a trio dance with seniors Evan Arnold and Emily Camp.
“[Dance] was never something I thought I would do before,” Nawrot said. “At the beginning of the season we didn’t have [the showcase] planned and it kind of just sparked during the middle of the season.”
Throughout the night, the audience was able to see new and interesting dances. There were select solos from seniors Hope Flowers and Injeel Starr, sophomore Bailey White and freshman Summer Swanzy.
“Performing in front of a big audience on stage was cool,” Swanzy said. “[I liked] showing my family and friends what we worked on all season, and how hard we worked.”
Designing the showcase was a difficult process with rehearsals and planning, and the team put in hours of work to clean up the choreography of each dance. However, they pushed through and eventually everything went smoothly.
“Everyone’s motivation on the team was the best part because a lot of us didn’t think it would be such hard work to do,” Nawrot said. “We planned on practicing once a week and then it turned into three days a week, two hours each day. We also made solos, duos, and trios so instead of only dancing in a group we all got to show what we could do by ourselves.”
Everyone was very pleased with their teammates’ work. With a solo and a duet along with the variety group dances, Swanzy was very excited to perform.
“I’m proud of our team for coming together and pulling this off for our first ever showcase, which was really cool, and I was proud of [performing] my solo and duet,” Swanzy said.
Throughout the season and hard work the team put in, the girls grew closer as a family. They are anticipating the selection process for next year to expand their team.
“By the end of the season I felt comfortable with our teammates and our coach,” Nawrot said. “I definitely would say if [students are] interested, [they] should join.”
