Dancing With the Teachers Comes to DHS
NEIRAD enilno edition
Many of you may have seen the show “Dancing with the Stars.” D-list celebrities are paired up with professional dancers in a competition where one team faces elimination each week. Now this schmaltzy bit of glitz is coming to DHS. The stars will be our own faculty. “Dancing With the Teachers” will be held on April 7. Instead of vying for ratings, this event is being held to raise money.
Junior Niya Wright and math teacher Laura Young came up with the idea. Miss Young witnessed the competition at her alma mater, Mattituck Junior/Senior High School on Long Island. Math teacher Jenna D’Agostino and history teacher Lynn Brown are also running the event. “Our goal is to entertain the audience and students, not to put on a professional dance exhibit” Miss D’Agostino said. Wright too became aware of the event when she heard of several other high schools all around America holding faculty dance competitions. “It is going to be a fun event and everybody should try to show up” Wright said.
The actual event will include 24 faculty members from all departments. There will be 10 teams composed of two faculty members. The remaining three faculty members act as judges. Instead of having weekly rounds of competition the DHS version will be a onetime only event. The winner will be chosen by faculty judges.
The contestants were selected by the students in an online poll in December. The top 10 male and female teachers with the highest number of votes were chosen. Some did not want to participate. Then the organizers invited teachers with the next highest number of votes to sign-on for a little dance humiliation. There were still not enough takers, so the competition was opened up to anyone who wanted to join the event. As of mid-December, the event was short four men and three women dancers.
All dances will be choreographed by the Dance Team who will then work with the teacher teams to learn the routines. The dances will be a mix of hip hop dance, jazz dance, salsa or any style teachers wants to perform.
“Dancing with the Teachers” is acting as a fundraiser for two different organizations: Dizzy Feet and the Dance Team. Fifty percent of the profits will go to Dizzy Feet, “an organization to help underprivileged young people realize their dream of becoming professional dancers and to support, improve, and increase access to dance education in the United States.”
“I wanted the money to go to an organization that will help kids” Wright said. Another 25 percent of the money will go to the Dance Team who is spearheading the event. The last 25 percent goes to the class with the highest attendance. Even though prices have not been established “they are going to be reasonable,” Wright said.
