Blazerettes Prepare For Annual Spring Show in April

After a competitive trip to Nationals in Orlando, the team is gearing up to perform in the Spring Show, where seniors will receive sentimental goodbyes.

The Blazerette dance team.

Ellie Bockus

The Blazerette dance team.

Cayla Peacher, Reporter

The Blazerette dance team will be hosting their annual Spring Show this month on Friday, April 22. The Spring Show will be the Blazerettes’ first performance since their tough competition at Nationals in Orlando, Florida back in March, in which they were eight placements away from advancing into the finals. Within the last month, the team has been training consistently, attempting to choreograph and perfect a multitude of dance routines in order to perform to the best of their abilities at this year’s Spring Show. 

“For this year’s Spring Show, we do not have a theme yet,” senior co-captain Ellen White said. “We have a large number of seniors [on the team], so it’s going to be really sentimental and primarily senior based. We are working on [choreographing] a really cool opening [routine] right now and I think the show will be really cool.”

Blazerettes at Nationals in a huddle moments before their performance. (Ellie Bockus)

Because the majority of the team is made up of seniors, most of the dance routines will be representative of the seniors’ legacy within the Blazerettes,the relationships and life-long bonds that the girls have made with each other during their time on the team. 

“We have a lot of senior dedicated videos [that we will be showing during the show] and we will be performing a lot of team routines, showing how much the team loves each other,” senior Ellie Bockus said. “The show will be really hard-hitting but it is also going to be bittersweet, cute and sappy.” 

With spring representing new beginnings and change in all aspects of life, senior Blazerettes are starting to realize that a bittersweet end is soon to arrive, and new opportunities and experiences will begin to blossom.

“I am really sad that my experience being on the dance team will be ending,” Bockus said. “It’s sad because I’m not only leaving the underclassmen, but I am also leaving the other seniors and the seven of us have been through so much together. We have gone through so many different coaches and other struggles. But, I am also excited for the younger girls to continue the Blazerette family.”

Although the Spring Show will be nostalgic and feature emotional lyrical and contemporary routines, the show will also have many up-beat performances featuring multiple jazz routines, and will also feature exciting performances from other students from different walks of life. 

“We’re doing a Special Olympics [performance] that will feature kids who go to the Trails Building, as well as kids who go [to Gardner-Edgerton] with special needs,” White said. “They will all get the chance to perform in the show and I think it will be really cool.” 

Senior Blazerettes from left to right: Hannah Hulse, Ellen White, Kaynen Warner, Olivia Keady, Emily Barrager, Ellie Bockus and Kenadi Crowder. (Kaynen Warner)

The Special Olympics and Trails students will also be performing their dance routines at the pep assembly that is scheduled on the same day as the Spring Show.

With the Spring Show being the Blazerettes’ first performance since Nationals, the nerves are beginning to set in; however, many girls on the team feel as though their journey and performance at Nationals has given the team the confidence boost in their performance abilities that they needed. 

“At this point, we have performed under higher stress levels than this and we know what we’re doing,” Bockus said. “We have definitely gained more confidence in ourselves now.”

Currently, there is no set amount that has been listed for the price of Spring Show tickets. Tickets are usually five dollars if they are bought prior to the show date, and seven dollars if they are purchased at the door the night of the show. Tickets can be purchased from any Blazerette on the team. 

The Spring Show will be held in the auditorium in GEHS at 7 pm on Friday, April 22.

Blazerettes performing at Nationals in Orlando, Florida. (Ellie Bockus)