Dancing like they mean it: Dancing with the Chiefettes 2018
Dec 6, 2018
The eleventh annual Dancing with the Chiefettes took place on November 6 in the McIntosh auditorium. Male athletes paired with a Chiefette to both choreograph and perform a dance together. There were 15 performances in total, each fitting a unique theme, and audience members voted on their favorite dance.
Senior Jack Bragg is a part of the wrestling team. “I have no rhythm, but it was fun to perform,” said Bragg. He and his partner Destin Herbert received the theme Holidays. “I pretty much laughed the whole time.”
This year, freshmen Marissa Cooper and band member Owen Doyal took first place with the theme Broadway. Cooper was excited when she got the theme.
“I love Broadway shows, so when I got the theme I instantly started thinking about what songs I could use. The only problem was that I liked so many, it was hard to narrow them down,” said Cooper.
Cooper and Doyal prepared for three weeks before the show. Cooper said that the hardest part was the choreography.
“It was very difficult trying to figure out what we could and couldn’t do,” said Cooper. “Deciding on what lifts would work and then learning them together was tough.”
Seniors Jordan Nelson and lacrosse player Harrison Soles won second place with the theme Night at the Movies. Juniors Natalie Marshall and track member Nick Lankau won third place with the theme Circus.
“Harrison and I were so surprised,” said Nelson. “We were not expecting anything from it.”
Juniors Chaylee Waltuck and Noah Smith from cross country received the theme Props. They used backpacks and a desk as their props.
“I was kind of scared when I found out what my theme was because I had no clue what I was going to do with it,” said Waltuck. “The hardest part was working on the back-flip stunt that we did in the dance.”
To make Dancing with the Chiefettes happen, though, it takes a lot of practice and mistakes.
“We tried to practice some lifts at our church retreat, and Harrison body slammed me into the grass,” said Nelson. “It was really funny.”
This year’s hosts were seniors Emma Skaggs and Ryan Robertson. They were chosen by the Chiefettes to host the show. Hosts introduced each dance couple with funny commentary and held interviews with each.
“Ryan and I came up with a loose script prior to the show but we left a lot of it up to Ryan’s improv skills,” said Skaggs.
Skaggs enjoyed announcing the winners at the end of the show.
“My favorite part about hosting the show is announcing the winners,” said Skaggs. “It’s super cool to hold off announcing the first to third place winners to build up the anticipation.”
The judges were Keith Haber, Ashley McAfee, and Jennifer Nirenberg. Judges made commentary and gave scores after each dance. After all the performances had finished, the audience voted on the best dance couple. While they were voting, the Chiefettes performed their competition dance and the McIntosh A Capella Group sang “Somebody That I Used to Know”.
To both the Chiefettes and the male athletes, this is an event that they feel they won’t forget.
“Dancing with the Chiefettes is fun and really enjoyable,” said Cooper. “ It was certainly stressful at first, but when all is said and done, I’m glad I got to experience it.”
