Members of Dance Team say they’re ready for center stage

The West Essex Dance Team doesn’t often get as much recognition for their successes as they’d like, members say—but they’re looking forward to a fresh star

t this season, with a new head coach and many new dancers who are all motivated to catch more eyes and win more awards.

The Dance Team is made up of nine girls, all with different amounts of experience and coming from all four grades. Most practices are three hours long and take place three times a week. At each practice the girls work hard to perfect their moves for their upcoming performances.

The team performs at all home football and basketball games, the annual pep-rally and host their own recital to showcase their work from the year. The team competed against different schools in the past and is hoping to continue its success in the future.

The Dance Team’s goal is to attract new talented young dancers who have motivation to participate in the activity. The new additions to the team, one being sophomore Liliana Patracuolla, plan on sticking with the team throughout the rest of their high school career.

The girls hope to have a successful season and perfect the dances showcased in February.

The seniors are determined to make their last show memorable and the best it could be. Some dancers even have goals pursuing this activity past the West Essex doors.

“My goal as a dancer is to successfully audition for college, so I can continue my dance education,” senior Sarah Blake said.
Julia Schwartz, who is a senior captain along with Blake, also hopes to continue dancing in college, even if it is not as much as she did in high school. Neither dancer wants to stop all together.

Blake, an attendee at New Jersey School of Ballet, has been on the team all four years. She participated on JV for two years and is currently in her second year on Varsity. At New Jersey School of Ballet, she performs in over 20 professional ballets in one year.

“New Jersey Ballet helped me discover my dreams of wanting to become a professional ballerina,” senior Sarah Blake said. “West Essex gave me the opportunity to become a more diverse dancer and to show the community and my school friends what my talent is.”

New head coach Maria Piccininni has already had a positive impact on the team, members said. She encourages the girls to learn from one another and help each other improve.

“With a coach who is more experienced in the dance world, we learn more and have more interesting choreography,” sophomore dancer Liliana Patracuolla said.

With all of the positive changes to the dance team this season, the girls aim to shine in the spotlight at their upcoming performances. The Dance Team’s showcase for this school year is on Feb. 8, 2018, in the high school auditorium.