Mouth of the River

The Oyster River Dance Team (ORDT) is back for another showcase. Combining the best elements of their past productions like senior solos, with completely new components like the new and varying styles of dance, they have created a performance like no other they’ve presented before. 

The showcase will be held in the Oyster River High School (ORHS) auditorium on Friday, February 13th and Saturday, February 14th at 7 pm. New to the show this year are the jazz number and tap dance that was added for some of the talented new freshmen on the team, as well as a pom dance, the cheer-like style they perform at school sports game halftimes and the pep rally. With six girls lost, and six girls added, the team is almost an entirely new group with entirely new talent. The show is two hours in runtime, including intermissions, with senior solos being the middle of the three sections of the show. The process of planning the showcase was not totally smooth sailing, but the team was able to pull together such a show because they started planning months in advance. 

The team chose their dances back in early November before handing the songs off to ORHS administration for vetting. They were already starting to choreograph by December. The early start time combined with their new strategy to have strict deadlines for dances meant they were able to stay on track during the entire preparation process. 

Feedback from audience members to create more variety within the show meant that the team created limits to the number of dances they were able to perform in a certain style to keep the performance balanced; what they call a genre count. One new genre for them is conquered, with their slow jazz dance to Beyonce’s Fever, which is a style the team has never tried before.  

Along with jazz, they are also debuting their first tap number to the sassy Lady Marmalade from Moulin Rouge, performed by freshmen Caitlin Termorshuizen (‘29) and Claire Boysen (‘29). Boysen has been trained in all styles and joined the team because she was looking for a more laid-back way to continue to be involved in dance. She says, “I wanted a way to get involved with the school and meet some people.”  

And while it isn’t at all new to them, the team is also performing a pom dance in the showcase for the first time. The dance they chose was the first pom dance ever taught to the team to Jennifer Lopez’s energetic Let’s Get Loud. Elizabeth (Libby) Bessette (‘27) says, “the alumni who will be in the audience know the dance so that should be fun for them.”  

The process of creating a showcase entails tedious planning and coordinating on top of hours of teaching, learning and practicing. Team advisor and ORHS English teacher Shauna Horsley gets to see the whole process. She oversaw the previous dance team back when it was a different group of students, but when she went on maternity leave, the team dispersed. The team was revived in 2021, and while she wasn’t initially involved, when team captains Amalie Trump (‘26) and Lindsey Paquette (‘27) reached out to her over the summer asking if she’d like to be their team advisor, she offered to be as involved as they needed. Because of her background in dance, she’s able to give feedback to the dancers as well. She’s not the only one who has helped supervise, as many other teachers have filled in when she couldn’t be there. She stresses that the team has always been student driven, and that faculty are not the ones initiating but rather providing supervision. Horsley says, “[Trump] and [Paquette] have a really clear vison.”  

Trump says, “it’s not just making dances and making them look pretty. It’s a lot of people managing.” Making sure everybody is happy and having fun is a difficult job for the captains to handle on top of the logistics of planning a showcase. The genre count, set list and order themselves must take into consideration the style and energy of each dance as well as the people in them. Trump says, “we try and prevent people from having three dances in a row.” During tech week, the final week of preparation for the show, the work of the captains includes creating programs, which include bios and photos for each member of the team, advertising and social media and working on team shoutouts on top of hours long practices. “I feel like a workaholic from a movie,” says Trump, laughing. 

All choreography seen in the showcase is student chorography, and any member who wants to choreograph a dance is welcome to do so. Towards the beginning of planning the showcase they designated practices at their studio in the Musical Arts of Dover building for choreographing. The full group dances are typically choreographed by Trump and Paquette with small groups choreographed by the students in the dance. 

Team practices start with half an hour of group or individual stretching in the ORHS auditorium before the choreographers teach dances in small sections at a time. They then do the dance with counts and formations and then finally with music.  

They’re now in their final week of rehearsals, inching towards their final product. This week involves running the show with costumes, lighting and music cuts as well as cleaning up the dances, all of which requires stopping and taking notes. 

So whether you’re a fan of dance or are just becoming interested, join the dance team in the ORHS auditorium on Friday, February 13th and Saturday, February 14th at 7 pm. Doors open at 6:30. Entry is by donation and if you tend to be tempted by baked goods, bring extra cash for their bake sale! All proceeds go to funding the dance team.  

Bessette says, “it’s really fun to see the choreography. It shows our talent and creativity. There’s a lot of styles of choreography that each person does. If you love dance, it will be fun. If you’ve never watched dance before, I think it’s a cool experience.” 

-Sadie Goldberg