HALFTIME HOOPLAH

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Remnants of glitter still sparkled around the eyes of members of the Lakewood Ranch High School Silver Stars Dance Team as they unloaded from a bus in the school’s parking lot Jan. 5.

Less than 24 hours earlier, they’d been part of history — performing with about 400 other dancers to a live concert by Train during the 2012 Discover Orange Bowl.

“It was so much fun,” junior Kelsey McVaugh said. “It was so different than anything I’ve ever done before. I gained so much from the experience.”

Freshman Danielle Calabrese said she was hyped up from the time they left Lakewood Ranch to the time they returned, despite her exhaustion and sore muscles.

“It was an experience of a lifetime,” she said. “It was so much fun — the big crowd, the choreographers and all the different teams that were there. It was exciting. The energy was awesome.”

Dancers spent several days prior to their Orange Bowl performance in clinics with professional dance choreographers, such as Mandy Moore and Cris Judd. Although the girls spent much of their holiday break from school learning the actual routine themselves via video, the clinics helped them improve technique and other aspects of their dance.

As a gift from organizers, every dancer received a makeup kit with glittery eye shadow, star stickers for their eyes and other accessories and makeup to use for the show.

“It felt like we were back in dancing school,” Melanie Hahn said. “It was really neat. It looked professional.”
Then, as halftime neared, the dancers braced themselves for the moment for which they’d been training and headed to the tunnel through which they’d run onto the field.

They didn’t have time to be nervous, the dancers said.

“It didn’t sink in until we walked up and saw the huge field,” Silver Stars Captain Melanie Hahn said. “It’s the best adrenaline rush. Everybody’s screaming.”

Co-Captain Jessica Goodwin agreed.

“It almost felt like I was going to get on a roller coaster,” she said.

But they, and the other dancers, quickly went into performance mode. Any nerves they had about dancing in front of thousands of people on national television quickly fell to the wayside, they said. Their eight-minute routine seemed to fly by.

“I got in a zone,” Melanie Hahn said. “It’s definitely one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.”

“When we came off the field, we just looked at each other and screamed,” she said. “It was amazing.”

Silver Stars Coach Hope Hahn said the experience proved to be a great team-building exercise for the Silver Stars and also a great learning opportunity, as girls learned new dance styles from some of the nation’s best choreographers.

“It definitely helps to inspire them to grow in their dance,” Hope Hahn said. “You have to push yourself a little and get out of your comfort zone.”

“The girls experienced an opportunity of a lifetime together,” she said.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].

FUN FACT
Silver Stars members spent months hosting garage sales and other fundraisers to help offset the costs for their trip — about $1,250 per girl.