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- Sophomores Anna D’Alleva, Thalia Jimenez and Serena DiDino practice in the cafeteria
by Ryan Condon
Finishing in second place at the Bay State Conference Championship Thursday, Feb. 9, the winter dance team improved on last year’s sixth place, “a compliment to all our hard work,” according to coach Stephanie Hubbard.
The team also performed at Emmanuel College Sunday, placing first in the high school hip hop category, as well as receiving the Grand Champion trophy, according to Hubbard.
Bay States, according to senior Maura Quinn, a captain with senior Hanna Stubblefield-Tave, “really showed how much our team has improved and how our practice has payed off. All of our team members came off the mat with smiles.”
The team, according to Stubblefield-Tave, “showed that hip hop has a place in high school dance teams. We really stood out, and everyone started cheering just when our music came on. We’ve gotten a lot stronger and more synchronized, and the dance looked powerful.”
According to Hubbard, the team is working on adding more unique stunts to their routine. “We want to strive to stay on top and include unique moves.”
Quinn said that the squad’s teamwork paid off this season. “We never stopped practicing until we all got the dance right, no matter how many times it took us. We stayed determined through out the season and helped each other whenever another was struggling,” she said.
Performing at home boys’ basketball games this season, according to Stubblefield-Tave, helped the team prepare for Bay States. “It gave us the opportunity to perform in front of an audience and to work on dancing full out,” she said.
The team also practiced every week by “focusing on cleaning up the dance steps, staying in our formations, and working on our stunts so they would be successful every time,” she said.
Due to its performance at Bay States, the squad will be moving on to perform at States Sunday March 11, according to Hubbard. The team may also dance at any boys’ basketball playoff games, she said.
