As halftime approaches during a Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) home football game, students are eager to watch the flips, high kicks, and glittering pompoms of the MVRHS dance team. In only its second year, the dance team has become one of the most anticipated parts of Friday night football.
Each member of the dance team is also a dancer at RISE Vineyard Performing Arts, a local studio where dancers study ballet, hip-hop, acro, jazz, tap, and contemporary dance styles. Tryouts for the MVRHS dance team are open to all.
The team began practicing last fall, but its roots stretch back farther. Senior captain Teagan D’Arcy, who has danced since she was 3, explained that the idea for a high school dance team had floated around for many years.
It wasn’t until MVRHS and RISE alumna Annabelle Cutrer came to coach that the team began in earnest. “We kind of just built it from the ground up,” Annabelle said.
After graduating from MVRHS, Ms. Cutrer attended Dean College, where she continued to pursue dance. At Dean, she became the captain of the pom team — the term for the dance team that typically accompanies sports games. After meeting with RISE owner Jill Matrisciano, Annabelle stepped up to become the MVRHS dance team coach and choreographer, due to her vast experience with the pom style throughout college.
The pom style is new to most dancers, and involves learning complex choreography while incorporating pompoms and thinking about how movements will translate for an audience sitting in bleachers.
“When you’re performing on a field, you’re dancing on grass, which is a big change,” Annabelle said. “You have to perform bigger [movements], because the audience is looking down on you, and the music isn’t always as loud.”
When Annabelle was on-Island over the summer, she taught the choreography to dancers before handing the practice responsibilities to Teagan and fellow senior captain Grace Bennett-Rock. Grace explained, “[Ms. Cut-rer] leaves after she teaches us the dance, so Teagan and I rehearse the choreography with the team.”
Practices run throughout August and into the fall, culminating with performances at home football games and the fall pep rally. Though the dance team rehearsal schedule is lighter than dancers’ almost daily RISE classes, balancing both commitments along with schoolwork can be a challenge.
Dancer and sophomore Marli Gale said, “Sometimes it would feel a little stressful to pack all that in the schedule. But at the same time, once you get out on the field, it’s so fun. It’s worth it.”
Teagan said the football environment brings a different kind of energy compared with a typical dance performance. “Those are sports fans, and they don’t typically know that much about dance,” she said. “I think getting to show them what you train so hard for is super-rewarding, because the people that I see in school every day don’t know what I do.”
Marli agreed, saying, “Looking into the student section and seeing your friends’ faces looking back at you gives you a boost.”
One of the team’s biggest highlights came last fall when they performed at Fenway Park alongside the MVRHS football team. “We were really lucky and grateful,” Teagan said. “The inclusion that we felt at Fenway really is what the whole purpose of dance team is.”
When Grace graduates this spring, she will be leaving the dance team with a sense of pride. She said, “I’m really glad that I got to be part of the [high school’s] first-ever successful dance team. I really hope it continues, and I get to watch it after I graduate.”
