Local dancers headed to the Orange Bowl
Published 9:15 pm Monday, September 14, 2009
In January, a group of 13 dancers from a North Suffolk and Smithfield dance studio will get the chance of a lifetime.
Not only do the Dynamic Movements students get to miss school for a week, but they also will get to perform with hundreds of other dancers during the FedEx Orange Bowl halftime show in Miami.
“I’m counting down the days,” Paige Moore, 12, said. “I’m hoping all my friends will watch me on TV.”
The young people get the opportunity thanks to the recommendation of an unknown person, Wendy Solberg said.
“They (Bowl Games of America, the organization that coordinates halftime performances for all bowl games) contacted Kristen Burgess, the owner of the studio, and said someone had recommended them,” Solberg said. Solberg has two daughters who will be performing in the show.
“We thought it would be a great opportunity for the team,” Solberg said.
Each dancer needs to raise about $1,400 to be able to go. The team already has held a rummage sale, a Pampered Chef party, a car wash and Chick-fil-A night, and it plans more fundraisers in the coming months.
The 13 dancers will receive choreography DVDs and music CDs in December, and will be expected to know the routine by the time they get to Miami. They will spend five days in Florida, seeing the sights, perfecting the routine, doing dress rehearsals and learning from some of the top choreographers in the dance business.
“I think it’s a really great opportunity,” Lindsey White, 13, said.
Her fellow dancers agreed.
“I didn’t think a Smithfield dance studio would ever get asked to go to a big football game,” Lacey Tuttle, 18, said during practice at the Smithfield branch of the studio.
Jacob Spallino, 17, said he is nervous about the event, for a few reasons.
“There’s going to be different places, different people, a different choreographer, and he’s going to be like ‘Roar!’ if you don’t get it right,” Jacob said.
In addition, this will be the first time on a plane for both Jacob and Paige.
“I want to get it over with,” Jacob said of the flight.
Dancer McKenna Cowen, 12, admitted to confusion when the dancers were first told about the Orange Bowl trip.
“I didn’t really know what it was at first, McKenna said.
Sierra Solberg, 16, and Tara Muth, 17, concurred that the trip is an exciting opportunity.
To donate funds for the dancers’ trips, send contributions, payable to Dynamic Movements School of Performing Arts, to Dynamic Movements, 301 Deer Spring Lane, Smithfield, VA, 23430, or to Dynamic Movements, 3205C Bridge Road, Suffolk, VA 23435.