All year long, the Bowie Silver Stars choreograph, rehearse, and prepare for their Spring Show. Silver Stars’ families and friends come out to show support and see all the talents the dancers have to offer.
Senior First Lieutenant Olivia Cassidy took the lead for multiple numbers and performed a solo to Lana Del Rey’s “Young and Beautiful” at Spring Show.
“My favorite routine I performed at Spring Show was Tap co! It was to “Smooth Criminal” by Michael Jackson. The routine was super fast but a lot of fun,” Cassidy said.
Among the many numbers she performed in, Cassidy joined her fellow seniors for the show’s annual senior dance. Seniors get to take the spotlight together to enjoy their last show as a Silver Star.
“My favorite part of Spring Show was doing our senior dance for the last time,” Cassidy said. “It was super emotional but I loved dancing with the seniors one last time before we go off to college.”
Seniors demonstrate a lot of leadership on and off stage with the younger Silver Stars and Star Dancers. Senior dancers and managers work hard to set an example and encourage the younger teammates.
“We take initiative in and out of practice and always keep a positive mood during practice, even if it’s seven in the morning,” Cassidy said.
Senior leadership was also demonstrated by managers. Senior Jaya Kulkarni has been a Silver Stars manager for three years. She leads the other managers in making the Silver Stars successful.
“I help to direct my fellow managers to ensure all of our tasks get done properly and to the best of our abilities. Having the directors out this year was pretty difficult but we worked well and made sure we got everything done,” Kulkarni said. “As a senior it is my job to keep the younger girls motivated and excited to be a part of the team.”
Silver Star’s student managers play an essential role in behind the scenes work before, during, and after Spring Show. They keep things organized backstage and make sure every dancer is ready for their next number. Kulkarni played a big part in helping with costumes, electronics during the show, and making sure every dancer is accounted for and ready to go.
“Throughout the show I helped the directors with the projector for the slideshows, ran to get the dancers backstage in time for their dances, helped the Silver Star girls with quick changes and hair pieces, and my final task was bringing our mascot, Legacy, down on her ropes during finale,” Kulkarni said. “Before the show it was my job to make sure each performer had every costume piece they needed and after the show we had to recount and put everything away which was very tedious.”
The biggest part of Spring Show preparation is learning the routines and rehearsing them. Silver Stars dancers spend long days and work hard all year long to put on a great spring show.
“We have been preparing since the start of the school year. We preform a lot of our contest dances at Spring Show, and we learn most of those during August/September,” Cassidy said. “We found out the theme of our show around November, so we started thinking of the storyline around then.”
Kulkarni and other managers work all year to make sure Silver Stars have support through the rehearsal process and to keep everybody in good spirits.
“It definitely gets to be a lot for the girls since there were days they’d have to come to school really early and stay after late to make sure the lights and things for the show were perfect but we just kept telling ourselves it’s our last big performance of the year and we worked so hard all year to put this show together,” Kulkarni said. “Also having it be the last performance for the seniors kept everyone motivated because they wanted it to be good for them.”
The Silver Stars dancers and manager’s hard work all pays off when a packed audience cheers them on for three nights in a row. The Bowie community’s appreciation for the Silver Stars was loud and clear at Spring Show.
“I think the audience enjoyed the show,” Kulkarni said. “There were some parts where I heard people laughing with us and I had some friends after the show tell me how impressed they were with everything.”
The families of Silver Stars bring much support during competition season, spring show, and other events and activities. At Spring Show, parents, grandparents, and other family members show out to cheer on their Silver Star.
“They always cheer super loud at all our shows and it makes the energy super fun,” Cassidy said.
