Danielle O’Malley, Managing Editor
@domalley_
Until last year, the high school had a cheerleading team that would perform at sporting events throughout the year, particularly the home football games. However, since the team came to an end, five girls stepped up to the challenge of filling the halftime void left behind. As dancers, they took it upon themselves to try something different for entertainment during sporting events. So, after countless hours of meetings, planning and auditions, the brand new dance team was officially formed in November of 2023 by juniors Lyla Koch, Sasha Kotlyar and Addie Tauber along with seniors Melania Germosen and Catherine Meli.
The crowd found a new sense of excitement during halftime, a new buzz that kept them going throughout home basketball games. Instead of young kids aimlessly shooting on the court, boring the audience, the dance team brings a new energy to the fans as their hard-hitting hip-hop routines hype up the crowd. The dance team has become a new, fun vessel of entertainment for the audience during halftime. Already, at just one season in, they’re already a popular crowd-favorite.
The idea for the dance team came about in an unusual manner after the team’s captains attended the Pep Rally this year. “We were watching the Pep Rally and watching all of the teams that did dances and we were joking about it. We said, if we did a dance, it would be so good. It would be so fun. Everyone would love it,” junior captain Lyla Koch said. “It was a joke and then we seriously started talking about it and took steps to make it official.”
Despite the dance team origin story stemming from a light-hearted idea, the girls care a lot about dance and sharing their love for it with the school. “We love to dance outside of school and wanted to bring something different to fill the halftime void,” senior captain Melania Germosen said. “We thought, maybe we could bring something to the school that we love to do.”
After the girls decided they wanted to pursue their idea, they had to make the team official at the school. Though it seemed like a daunting task, after only a few meetings, it was done. “We all drafted an email to Jay Egan, the athletic director, and we met with him about three times,” junior captain Sasha Kotlyar said. “He basically said, ‘you guys have no obstacles, I’m in full support of this.’ Then we started the team. It wasn’t really that complicated.”
“We asked around our dance studio who would be willing to do it because we all have busy schedules,” junior captain Addie Tauber said. “We set up auditions because we were able to email Jay Egan, find an audition date and get in contact with Coach Liv.”
Dance team auditions were held in mid-November where the captains called for trained dancers to try out. “We had a flier sent out and the announcements in the morning saying we were looking for experienced dancers. That was all you needed before you came into the audition,” Sasha said. “Auditions came around and we taught a dance combination and did it in groups. That’s how we picked people. A lot of people showed up, so it was definitely a success.”
Just a few months after the captains got together with their idea, the dance team had their first performance at the boys basketball game versus Weston on December 21. The performance was a massive success with positive crowd reciprocation, and they’ve only gotten more attention from the Bomb Squad since.
Math teacher and former dancer at Duke University, Jennifer Lee, thinks the dance team is a great way for dancers to continue their careers at the collegiate level, just as other athletes do. “Things are a lot more competitive now, as far as dance goes,” she said. “I feel nowadays people tend to specialize in things a lot earlier. So for that reason, for the same reason that I’m sure that happens in football and soccer and basketball, students feel like they need to have that edge to have that specialized experience before they do that again in college.”
The dance team brings a new sense of community to the school as it unites the crowd together in a different way. Ms Lee believes this and also that the team can become a new outlet for school spirit to thrive. “School spirit in general is an easy way for people to connect to the school community and to show that they’re proud to be here,” Ms Lee said. “A dance team is a good way for students, who may not participate in some other competitive sport, to connect.”
