Emily Saucedo dances across the stage twirling, leaping and shining in the spotlight. Saucedo was selected to be the Captain of the Silver Stars for the 2025-2026 school year, a role awarded to dancers who show natural leadership and commitment. Her role consists of leading her teammates, communicating with her directors, helping with choreography, and representing what it means to be a Silver Star in and outside of practice.
“Emily is great at connecting with people and seeing everyone in the room,”head dance director Bilnoski said. “She takes initiative to complete behind the scenes tasks so practice is effective and productive. She has stepped into her captain role with so much maturity and grace.”
Saucedo has danced at studios D’ette and Company Dancers and Pivotal Academy of Dance, and was a Bailey Star Strutter from 7th-8th grade, where she had a leadership position. With dance running in her family, Saucedo’s passion for dance started at the early age of three years old.
“I was first inspired to begin dancing at an early age because of my older sister, Maddie. We are three years apart and I have always looked up to her, so she is the ultimate reason my parents put me in studio dance when I was three years old,” Saucedo said. “Maddie was also a Silver Star while she was a student here at Bowie, so her passion for dance inspired me to continue pursuing my love for dance as well.”
For Saucedo, dance is not just a hobby, it is an opportunity. Whether she is demonstrating her leadership skills or simply having fun while being on stage, she is willing to grow and allow herself to fully be herself when she is dancing.
“I’m passionate about dance because it has been a space for me to express myself and it has given me the opportunity to learn my abilities as a dancer and leader,” Saucedo said. “Performing is most definitely nerve wracking, but each time I hit the floor, I’m overwhelmed with such a joyful feeling. The resilience, discipline, sportsmanship, and the community that I have gained through dance, continue to further my passion.”
Jordyn Bujanos, a fellow teammate of Saucedo, is a witness to her commitment and leadership. Having watched her go through the audition process for captain.
“Emily has an incredible work ethic and is always giving 110% in and out of practice. She’s such an amazing leader for the team as captain and such an incredible dancer,” Bujanos said. “Every time she dances I am in awe of her. She really loves the team and wants what is best for everyone involved.”
Saucedo has also won various awards, varying from team to solo awards. Although she has won all of these unbelievable achievements, her favorite was more of an honor than an award, the Silver Stars Legacy Trio. This consists of a sophomore, junior, and senior Silver Star each year.
“This trio family is truly so special to me as this is now my third and final year being a part of it. I remember being so thrilled when I was invited to join as a sophomore, and each year as I’ve moved up in grade levels, it’s been exciting to choose a new member and watch their joy unfold when they begin their trio journey. Each year the legacy trio performs a competition routine, which ultimately highlights the senior leaving the trio and embarking on their next journey,” Saucedo said. “While all of the awards I’ve earned while being on Silver Stars are special, having the opportunity to be a part of the Silver Stars Legacy Trio, and perform and make memories with the groups of girls each year, is one of my most cherished accomplishments.”
This year the Silver Stars All State convention was held in Houston, Texas, at the Marriott Marquis Convention Center. Every year the captain of Silver Stars is selected to attend the TDEA convention as an All State Dancer. Saucedo was sent numerous videos worth of group and optional featured sections of choreography to learn in order to prepare for the auditions held at the convention.
“Starting the first day of class, we began with auditions for the advanced featured section, followed by auditions for the big group section. The process consisted of showing the choreographer, Claire Rogers Lewis, the featured choreography twice,” Saucedo said. “Then if you were tapped on the shoulder, that meant you moved onto the next round. 50 Captains auditioned for the featured section and only 40 made it. I was one of the 40 dancers. After auditions for the featured section, everyone else was placed into the big group formation. There were about 300 dancers total at the convention.”
Throughout her time at the convention, she spent rigorous hours polishing and perfecting every step to make the dances as clean as possible for their performance. In her free time at this convention, she proceeded to take some unique master classes, fulfilling her learning experience from this convention.
“Throughout the time of the convention I took some master classes such as a DCC Pro Style class taught by current Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader, Allison Khong, and a Jazz Fusion class taught by professional dancer and former Dancing With the Stars Troupe member, Stephani Sosa,” Saucedo said. “Both of these classes were very fun and allowed me to venture out of my usual dance styles. Along with dance classes, there were also two leadership classes that were held.”
She described her feeling on stage at the convention as “happy” because even though it was a very hard and tiring amount of dance she was participating in, the encouragement she got from all the other dancers and captains inspired her and ultimately made her experience worth it.
“The environment of being around each of the other dancers was truly so special. Now looking back on this experience, I am able to say that this was one of the most cool and rewarding experiences. Being surrounded by many other Captains, and those who I grew connections with, was such a cherishable memory, knowing that we got to share it together,” Saucedo said. “Having the opportunity to participate and perform as an All State dancer at the TDEA All State Convention allowed me to visualize how far I’ve come in my dance journey.”
