On Thursday, April 13, the Majestics Sweet Sixteen show began. It was a three night show celebrating 16 years since the dance team kicked off its inaugural season in 2007.
“We had all-team after school rehearsals for the last three days,” sophomore Tatum Samuels said. “On Tuesday we did an Act Two rehearsal. We ran it once with the Rookies, who are the new people who are coming in, and then we ran it once without them so that they could leave. They only have once dance in each act and it’s kind of tedious [for them to stay the whole time].”
Monday the Majestics did the same procedure with Act One, including costumes. Wednesday was the first day they did everything, including curling their hair and putting on makeup.
“We have dinner until 5:20 on the first two days,” Samuels said. “Yesterday we had it until 5:45, and we also used that time to get ready. Then, we have inspection, then we start working until about 9:30, then we pack up.”
Inspection is a Majestics tradition. The dancers will line up in their squad lines, which are ordered by rank; seniors in the front and new girls in the back. A dance officer assigned to the line will go one by one down the line and check that each dancer has her full costume, all of her accessories, curled hair, proper makeup, correct shoes and asks her if she has everything she needs.
“I feel like we’re ready,” junior lieutenant Avery Hammet said. “There’s been a few bubbles in the road, but honestly, this is the most ready for a Spring Show I’ve felt.”
There are five officers this year, each with their own squad. As the leader of their team, officers do inspections and make sure their squad has everything.
“This year’s show is called The Vision,” dance teacher and Majestics coach Jacklyn Simone said. “The Majestics are celebrating our sweet sixteen this year. Our organization was established in 2007, so we’ve kind of been treating it like it’s our birthday, sweet sixteen.”
The show is all about what it means to be a visionary, and the qualities needed to be a great one. It continues on to display the Majestics and their history, these last sixteen years, and what the next six years will look like.
“Spring Show is something that we start working on at the beginning of the year, so this is a year in the making for us,” Simone said. “We do perform some of our contest routines in the show, but then once we get through contest season at the end of fall, we end up adding some other performances.”
They add in an opener and a finale piece, and the officers choreograph some dances for the show. Special guests come in and perform, such as the A Capella choir and Cady Knuckles performing as a solo singer.
“All of these things come together to really put on a variety show for the community,” Simone said. “Some things we’ve been doing to prepare are that we’ve been practicing every day. We spend mornings in the auditorium and had practice every day this week after school. Truly, countless hours have gone into the preparation for the show.”
The Spring Show is a big deal to the Majestics. It’s one of the only shows where people come purely to see the Majestics, not any other dance teams or a sports game.
“The Majestics perform at a lot of different venues,” Simone said. “We have a lot of different performance opportunities throughout the year, but one of the things that I always think about is that when people see the Majestics perform, they might be there for a different reason. Majestics spring show is the one performance we do every year where people are coming to see the girls dance. It’s really special for us.”
