M-A’s Dance Team hosted its annual dance show and senior celebration this Wednesday and Thursday in the Performing Arts Center.
Although the show began at 6 p.m., audience members began lining up as early as 5:30, forming a twisting line full of community members, family, and friends of the performers. As audience members entered the theater, a projector displayed a sentimental slideshow with pictures of the senior dancers throughout the past four years.
After an introduction performance, dance team coach Kate Lynn Roberts introduced every athlete while they waved and crossed the stage, prompting cheers and clapping from the excited audience.
After the last dancer crossed the stage, the crowd went silent. Soon, red spotlights illuminated the stage as the varsity dance team performed an energizing mashup of “Fein” by Travis Scott, “Pump It Up” by Endor, and “Good Graces” by Sabrina Carpenter. While dancers spun in perfectly-timed pirouettes and kicks, the audience clapped along to the beats of the music.
“We’ve been preparing all throughout the year. Each of our dances from tonight and last night were from football games, basketball games, and rally. For the past three weeks or more, we have been running those dances over and over again so that they look as good as they did tonight,” freshman and junior varsity dancer Ines Bensoussan said.
The 31 performances included dances choreographed by senior captains Tessa Goldman, Zoe Fong, and Lainey Egnal, self-choreographed senior performances, and performances from local dance studio Studio650.
“I think the hardest part is that once this show starts, there’s no way for it to stop. Crazy costume changes, dance changes, and the memorization aspect of it all. Not only do you have to remember every single dance, every single formation, every single movement from an entire year’s worth of practice and performance, but once the show starts, there’s no time to check the schedule and see what’s next,” Fong said.
The senior spotlight dancers, performed in groups of three, featured original costumes, choreography, and a lighthearted tone as the dancers celebrated one of their last performances together.
“For my trio, we were in race car outfits. I made a mix of songs about driving: ‘Sports Car,’ ‘Shut up and Drive,’ and ‘Life is the Highway.’ We had so much fun—I love the senior trios because it’s a chance for us to bring out our silly sides and make a fool out of ourselves on stage with crazy costumes and fun songs,” Fong said.
Spotlights flashed and dimmed with the changing tone of each dance, keeping the audience captivated. Music included everything from energetic dance pop songs like Nelly Furtado’s “Promiscuous” to soft piano folk music like Ingrid Michaelson’s “Turn to Stone.”
Along with the dances performed by the M-A varsity and JV teams, many of the dances were performed and choreographed by Studio650. These dances included both M-A students, other high schoolers, and children as young as eight, each in unique costumes. Studio650 performed “Honda” by FKA Twigs in white cargo pants and tops with long black gloves, “Worth Saving” by Ressie Reyez in flowing black mesh pants, and “Caught Up in a Dream” by Sarah Kinsley in royal blue two-pieces.
As one of the final dances, M-A students outside of the dance program flooded the stage for the long-awaited partner dance.
Dancers and their partners performed a choreographed number, and then formed an aisle down the stage. Each pair skipped down the stage holding hands before performing an original move they came up with together, including backflips, spins, and somersaults that had the audience clapping wildly.
“Practices were one hour each week for four weeks beforehand. There’s a community within the dance show for the partners. You gotta be with all the other guys, and there’s something cool about it,” senior Paul Whelan said.
As the show came to a close, dancers sat down on the stage and turned towards the large projector screen, which highlighted each of the twelve graduating seniors. The bittersweet slideshow displayed pictures of the seniors throughout their dance journeys, beginning as young children to current pictures of them with the team.
“There’s twelve of us, and it’s all our last show. We formed such a close, tight knit group of us. I feel like the unity and the friendships on this team, especially among the seniors, was unmatched this year. We’ve all become so close, and the dance team is such a special community that I’m really, really sad to be leaving next year,” Fong said.
The ceremony also announced the captains and officers for the 2025-2026 year: officers junior Bailey Lanier, sophomore Elena Kunze Briseño, and freshman Sara Martinez-Fernandez and captains junior Anika Desai, junior Micaela Rubinsky, and sophomore Siya Singla.
