‘My Life Is An 8 Count:’ Dedication To Dance At Newtown Schools

By Martha Coville

Hip-Hop teams at Newtown Middle School and Newtown High have long offered students who enjoy dancing the opportunity to perform at school functions from grades seven through twelve. Now, a third team joins the crowd, and dances to its own beat. Unlike the Newtown Middle School Dance Team, and the Newtown High School Markettes, both hip-hop teams, the Newtown High School Dance Ensemble is jazz-based.

Dance Ensemble Captains Katie Aiello, a senior at NHS, and Gretchen Hoffman, a junior, said they formed the new team because “there is such a number of jazz dancers at NHS but we felt that there wasn’t an opportunity for people to do jazz dance.” Katie and Gretchen both explained that they do not see their team as competing with the well-established Markettes. “We wanted our group to complement them,” Katie said.

Unique to the Dance Ensemble is their focus on community service.

“When we created the club,” Katie said, “we definitely wanted to emphasize a community service aspect.”

The Bee met up with Katie and Gretchen on December 4, as the Ensemble was hosting a dance party for Middle Gate School students. Invitations to the party had been auctioned off during a silent auction at the Dancing with The Principal event, Middle Gate School PTA fundraiser. The children of the 17 highest bidding parents enjoyed following Ensemble members in simple dances, playing along to favorite songs on toy guitars, and shimming under the limbo pole. Katie said, “We all put so much time and energy into dance that it’s just fun to share it with others.”

In the spirit of community involvement, the Dance Ensemble also volunteered to dance at the Newtown Tree Lighting on November 30. Katie and Gretchen admitted that the performance was a little tricky.

The 14-member team crowded onto the back of a 20- by 16-foot trailer to dance to “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree” and “Let it Snow.” Gretchen said their routine even featured a kick line, particularly difficult to execute on the small stage. Still, Katie said, “There were lots of little kids there,” Katie said. “It was just fun to get into the [Christmas] spirit.”

The group also performed at Homecoming, and plans to dance at girls’ basketball games. In the future, they also hope to compete. Dance contests usually have divisions for both jazz and hip-hop groups. Team members attended a three-day camp at Southern Connecticut State University last August, which qualifies them to compete in national competitions.

In addition to their commitment to the Dance Ensemble, Katie, Gretchen, and many of their teammates take private dancing lessons. The team practices twice a week, but both captains said they also study at the Newtown studio Dance, Etc where they take “six or seven lessons a week.”

Dance is not a new passion for them either: Katie has been dancing for 13 years, and Gretchen for 11. Other teammates share their commitment to and passion for dance: at one practice, a student even wore a T-shirt reading “My Life is an 8 Count.”

 

‘A Fusion’ Of Hip-Hop

And Jazz

The Dance Ensemble shares its impressive commitment to dance with members of other Newtown dance teams. Mia Malin, captain of the NHS Markettes, said she takes 14 dance lessons every week. She said taking so many classes allows her to “[meet] people from other grades, helps form bonds, and [lets me] branch out in the school community.”

Katy Caulfield, also a captain, says she studies at the Performing Arts Center of Connecticut in Trumbull with Mia. Katy said her heavy course load only allows her to take two classes a week.

In addition to private dance commitments, the team practices twice a week, and performs at home football games and at Friday night home games for the boys’ varsity basketball team. They also take part in competitions such as regional Southwestern Conference, where they won third place last year.

And like the Dance Ensemble, the Markettes enjoy sharing their love of dance with the community. Team advisor Kerry Petro said the team was “thinking about doing a clinic for younger girls” participating in Newtown Middle School’s dance team. Their goal would be to introduce the middle school students to more advanced steps, and to encourage them to continue with dance at the high school.

In addition to the clinic, the Markettes traditionally include the NMS dance team in one performance at a basketball game.

The team’s dedication is all the more impressive given their lack of resources. The Markettes do not have an “official” place to practice at Newtown High School. Ideally, they would love to use a room with mirrored walls that was designed as a dance classroom, but that space is currently being used for health classes. Since the gym is usually booked for sports practices, for now, the dance team must make do with the school lobby. They try to congregate to one side of the room so other students can come and go, but the space is still full of noise and distractions.

They are also on their own when it comes to uniforms to: earlier this year, they held a carwash raise money, but they still end up pulling a lot of clothes out of their own closets. Still, Mia says, the team remains “professional.”

Markettes do not take themselves too seriously. Sam Ross, the team’s third captain, and a senior like Mia and Katy, said, “We’re here to have fun and to give the crowd [at basketball games] a good time. Dance is a hobby for most of us, that’s why we’re student run, and we’re really proud of that.

Mia, Sam, and Katy also said the team began preparing for the 2007-08 school year early. The 15-member team held tryouts last May, and attended a camp at the Performing Arts Center of Connecticut over the summer. There, they benefited from lessons with professional dancers and choreographers.

Although they incorporate what they learned at camp into their routines, the team also choreographs its own dances. The members set one dance to T-Pain’s popular song “Low,” featuring Flo Rida. As the song’s catchy refrain, “Apple bottom jeans / Boots with the fur” filled the lobby, the team lined up in a triangle formation.

In contrast to Dance Ensemble, whose choreography requires the team to break down in sections, performing different moves simultaneously, the Markettes follow the conventions of hip-hop dance. Standing in tight formation, they execute each move as a team, creating a strong visual impact.

Still, Katy says that she enjoys both hip-hop and jazz, and Sam said she considers the group’s style a “fusion” of hip-hop and jazz. She said they are even planning on incorporating some ballet steps into one of their dances.

An ‘Amazing Process’ At

Newtown Middle School

Dancers at NMS benefit from the knowledge and experience of Markettes member Morghan Moroney, who helps the younger students with their choreography. A former member of the middle school team, Morghan said she volunteers her time because “I like to dance and my favorite thing to do is to teach people to dance.” She said she wants to be a dance instructor and hopes to one day own her own studio.

On December 4, she led the middle school dance team through a routine she had helped choreograph. She set the dance to Missy Elliott’s “Lose Control,” featuring Ciara and Fatman Scoop. Morghan said she incorporated steps she learned in private lessons and with the Markettes.

Seventh grader Alison Kron said beginning this winter, the Dance Team will perform at both boys’ and girls’ home basketball games. She said their performances will feature Morghan’s dance, and also one of their composition.

“We’re all gonna work together,” she said, “and combine some dances for a medley.” So far the team’s chosen two songs for the medley are Petey Pablo’s “Show Me the Money” and the P. Diddy-Christina Aguilera’s duet, “Tell Me.”

The ten-member team, most of whom are in eighth grade, is headed by team captains Angela Ross and Alicia Carrafiello. Like many members of the Dance Ensemble and the Markettes, middle school dance team members also study at studios like Connecticut Dance in Monroe. Angela’s weekly schedule at Connecticut Dance includes ballet, tap, hip-hop, jazz, modern, and Irish dance classes. Alicia said she has studied for four or five years at The Graceful Planet studio in Sandy Hook.

Angela, an eighth grader like Alicia, said she joined the NMS dance team because “hip-hop is my favorite kind of dance, and I wanted to do it more.” She said she enjoys watching hip-hop and R&B singer Ciara, known as much for songs such as “Like a Boy” as for her dancing skills.

Social Studies teacher Oona Mulligan has been advising the team for four years. Ms Mulligan said that the team is mostly student run and that she functions more a supervisor than a coach. She also said that she had no knowledge of dance when students recruited her to be the team’s advisor.

“I’ve coached field hockey and soccer,” she said. She was surprised to learn that the dance team “is so much more involved than I thought. I have a much greater appreciation [for what they do] than I did before.”

Ms Mulligan said she enjoys watching the team putting their routines together.

“I’m just amazed, “ she said. “I love watching the process.”

Several NMS dancers, including Angela, said they plan on auditioning for the Markettes when they reach the high school.

Whether freshmen at NHS choose to join the Jazz Ensemble or the Markettes, they often bring nearly a decade of dance experience with them, and a continued commitment to attending private lessons. Many members of the Markettes are also graduates of the NMS dance team. The dance teams in Newtown schools are a result of students’ enthusiasm for dance, and an opportunity for them to develop as dancers and performers.