South Windsor High School’s dance team hosted their first winter showcase on Friday, December 13th in the auditorium. The showcase incorporated many different types of dances by the South Windsor dance team, as well as some guest performers. Even though it was the first showcase and had some technical difficulties throughout, the show was a success and the dancers performed very well. Especially the members on the SW dance team.

The showcase began with a pom performance by both the varsity and junior varsity teams as they danced to the song All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey. The upbeat song and dance was a great start to the show with the dancers shaking their pom-poms and starting a high-kick line across the stage. 

The next dance that was performed by a member of the South Windsor dance team was a solo by junior, Tessa Christensen, who had also choreographed the dance. She danced beautifully to the song A Walk Inside My Mind by Evann McIntosh and showed off her talent, which included her showing a lot of emotion and her ballet skills. Directly following the solo was a group dance by the seniors on the team, which was to the song Rather Be by Clean Bandit. The jazz routine was choreographed by Katie Rosenbaum and showcased each of the dancers’ talent and ability to work together. 

Soon after, select members danced a hip-hop routine to All the Way Up by the artist Fat Joe. This dance was very different from what they had already performed, but it was a hit as the audience enjoyed the performance and the team seemed to have fun on stage. Senior Captains Jailyn Murphy and Enidia Xhokaxhiu choreographed this routine for the following girls on the team; Victoria Atwood, Kylah Bacon, Veena Bellam, Christi Bilelis, Tessa Christensen, Nora, Lombardo, Lauren Manfredi, Rosenbaum, Ember Savino, and themselves.

A solo performed and choreographed by Riley Lariviere occurred after the hip-hop performance. She danced to the song Everything I Wanted by Billie Eilish. Lariviere danced emotionally across the stage while doing leaps across the stage. Her contemporary performance impressed many in the audience as well as herself. Lariviere mentions that she doesn’t know how she did, but she wishes that she had more time to practice and choreograph all together.

The Junior Varsity dance team at SWHS, which included Atwood, Bilelis, Lombardo, Manfredi, Caylei Martino, and Savino, took the stage and danced to the song Look What You Made Me Do by Taylor Swift. The jazz routine choreographed by their coach, Holly Havens, caused the JV girls to dance with attitude and sass, which added a lot of character to the dance which was definitely a good thing. 

Next, select members on the team performed a contemporary dance to the song Dirty Diana by Michael Jackson. The coach, Havens, was the one who choreographed this contemporary piece that was a favorite of a few people involved in the dance. For example, Rosenbaum spoke fondly of the dance, saying how “we don’t normally do contemporary so this was different and unique. We used different expressions that allowed a different dynamic to shine through as a whole.”

The next group was a Bollywood performance that was performed and choreographed by Bellam, Muskan Ghetiya, and Ashna Prakash. The song they danced to was called Dilbar by Satyameva Jayate. This performance was noticeably different than the other dances that the group did, but these three girls were able to give the audience a look into their culture. It was definitely a fun dance to watch in the audience and Bellam, Ghetiya, and Prakash all had a great time dancing together on stage. Specifically, Bellam states how she enjoyed “being sassy.” Not only this, but she was “proud that [she] could show off [her] Bollywood skills. It was nice to show [herself] to other people culturally.” 

Lastly, the whole team performed all together again to the song American Oxygen by Rihanna, which was the routine that had gotten them into Nationals. In this dance, the team wore all white with the flag of their nationality on their stomachs. The girls also did a few flips throughout and worked very well together. The routine ended with the girls holding hands in a line and tearing the flags of different countries of their stomachs to reveal an American flag. 

Overall, the showcase was a success for the team and they are very happy with how they performed that night. Until Nationals in March, the team plans on preparing and practicing vigorously so that they do well at the competition.