The Patriot Press sat down with Dance Team Captains Gianna Micalizzi, Jackie Rommeney and Cami Fiumara to talk about the 2017-2018 Season.

Q: How many girls are on the team this season?

J: 32 dancers and 1 manager.

Q: How many dances do you expect to choreograph this season?

J: Three dances

When is the first game we can expect to see dance team at halftime?

J: Monday, December 18 at 4:00 pm at the varsity girls’ basketball game vs.. Shore Regional High School

What are some of the songs we can look forward to hearing?

J: “Swish Swish” by Katy Perry and “Countdown” by Beyonce

Q: What do you personally hope to accomplish as captain?

G: As a senior captain, I hope to mentor my fellow dance peers, especially those who aspire to become captain one day! It is an honor having the role of a leader, setting a good example of how one should shape a team. This year, I want the team’s bond to be stronger than ever before- building teamwork as well as long lasting friendships!

J: One of my personal goals is to have the team be the best that it’s ever been. We have such talented girls on the team and were so excited to show the school what they can do! I also hope to formulate a team that feels comfortable doing what they love and overall creating a strong bond that doesn’t end after the season is over.

C: This year I hope to just show everyone how amazing dance team is. These dedicated girls put in so much of their time and really work hard to put together their performance; they should not go unnoticed.  

Q:  What is your favorite part about dance team?

G: Throughout all four years of being a part of dance team, my favorite part has always been the strong friendships that all the teammates share. No doubt, dance team is a drama-free group of girls who strive to impact each other positively and constructively.  

J: My favorite part about the team is how close we all get by the end of the season. Despite being different ages and coming from different dance studios, we all get along really well and use our differences to enhance the team. I personally love every diverse and unique attitude/technique that each girl brings to the team.

C:Without a doubt my favorite part is being able to create a bond with all the girls. Everyone is so sweet and a joy to talk to I am glad that I can spend a season with them and still talk to them afterwards

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Q: How have the seniors on the team and other returners made your job easier as captain?

G: The senior girls and returners are all well familiar with dance team’s customs of helping individual, fellow dancers who need help with choreography when the captains are occupied with other responsibilities of maintaining the entire team. These girls also greatly ensure that the new team members feel completely comfortable at all times, proving that dance team is a welcoming environment!

J: The seniors set an amazing example for the younger girls to follow in many areas. They’re there to show the underclassmen the ropes and also help them with any choreography that they may be struggling with. We’re super grateful for our seniors!

C:All the seniors and returners really help get the new girls warm up to everyone on the team. They help get the girls to interact with one another so the team isn’t separated into groups but together as one just like the way it should be

Q: What is the hardest part about choreographing the halftime routine?

G: The most difficult aspect of choreographing the half time routine is planning the timing and distance that dancers’ have to walk/run to their new formations in the gym. Planning the dancers’ spots in formations are trial and error, we constantly change around the dancers’ spots to prevent issues of them not traveling to their spots in time, or colliding with other dancers.

J: One of the hardest parts of choreographing the half time routine is making sure that all of our formations look correct. We have a huge team and sometimes it can be difficult to create formations that showcases every single dancer. We try our best to feature every dancer and their talents.

C:An issue we always struggle with is making the sure the girls can get to their spots. Sometimes we have girls running across the gym in between songs to make it in time

Q:  What are you most excited to see at the first game from both the team and reactions to the dance?

G: I am most excited to see the dancers show off their hard work by performing to their highest potential with huge smiles and sass. I’m also looking forward to the audience cheering on dance team, their encouragement really helps the dancers accentuate their talents and attitude and it praises the team’s hard work.

J: I’m most excited to see how the crowd reacts to our dance. We’ve worked really hard this season and our dance isn’t like anything we’ve ever done before. I hope that what we bring can pump up the crowd and get them excited for the rest of the game.

C:I’m excited to just go out there and show everyone what we have worked so hard on. The crowd and us are always pumped up and you can just feel the energy throughout the gym.

Q:  Any final thoughts about this season?

G: Dance team will absolutely “wow” the audience with their performance! We have worked so hard in perfecting the dance to impress not only the crowd, but ourselves! We’re all so excited to support the girls’ and boys’ varsity basketball teams with our high spirits and abilities to deliver!

J: I’m just really eager to go out on the court and perform something that we’ve worked so hard on. At the end of the day the thing that matters most is that we all have fun and looked good while doing it. Go Pats!

C:I just can’t wait to perform our dance and see how everyone reacts. We always enjoy performing and showing the crowd what we got after working so hard on it.