While most students will be getting ready for a regular weekend, the Majestics will be packing up their costumes, stocking up on sunblock, and turning in homework assignments a week early as they get ready to embark on a week long cruise.
On Sunday morning they’ll load onto a charter bus at 4 a.m. and set off for Galveston. That afternoon, Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas will set sail with the drill team on deck for its seven day Caribbean performance cruise.
“The cruise came about in the spring whenever we had to make a decision about what our big travel year trip would be,” Majestics director Fela Lowrance said. “Based on the talent of the team and the potential, I knew I wanted to do a performance tour instead of a competition tour. I just researched about what we could do for a performance tour, and the cruise just came together.”
The cruise ship will make stops in Belize, Cozumel, and Honduras. However, the Majestics won’t be on board solely for sight-seeing. Their nights will also consist of workshops and dance rehearsals, and lots of preparing for the night when they will perform on the main stage of the cruise ship.
“Before the show, we have to work twice as hard. It gets really repetitive sometimes, but we just have to think of ways to make it new and energetic every day,” junior Officer Katie Egger said.
Their 40-minute show, “Cirque du Majestique”, will feature crazy costumes, lions and tigers and clowns, jazzy routines, and high kicks all with a circus theme. One of their cruise nights will be dedicated to performing the entire show on stage for the rest of the cruise ship personnel. It will be the first time any audience other than family will see the entire show from start to finish.
The trip is also the first time the girls will have to focus on more than just the classic drill-team smile and dance technique. They have to strive to keep up the polished technique and choreography, as well as add bold character, and big expressions.
“It’s like we have to be actors at the same time as dancers, and we can’t let any of our energy or polish drop,” sophomore Kinsey Smith said.
Because of the new elements, the team is excited but also anxious about performing in such a big venue.
“We feel pretty nerve-y, but I think everyone has the critiques they need, now it’s just whether you apply it when you get on stage. I feel like most of the girls know where they need to go, so I think once we get in front of the cruise audience, then everybody will be really performing–and we’ve never had to do that, so, again, it’s a little nerve-y, but it’ll happen,” Lowrance said.
Aside from the performance opportunity, the drill team has another purpose for the trip. Throughout the year, they have been raising money to help support a young woman in Belize. Where she lives, education is something everyone must pay for on their own, though many of them, including a girl named Lily, don’t have the funds. The Majestics have raised the money to allow Lily to finish her schooling, opening up more opportunities for her future.
On their cruise, when the ship docks in Belize, the team will get to visit the school that Lily attends and personally see the impact of their gift to her.
“It’s going to be really cool to have the whole team go down and meet her, because we’ve been fundraising for her for the entire year, and I know her and her family. She has a really hard home life, so it’s going to be really great to be able to go down and help her out,” junior Allison Dillard said.
