Looking in the mirrors lining the walls of the dance room, sophomore Keira Howard prepares for the halftime show at the varsity football game on Oct. 15, except this show holds a special meaning. Last year, the Spurs were unable to host their annual Mini Silver Spurs Clinic, an event where members of the Silver Spurs teach children to dance, but returned this year for children of all ages. Members of the varsity drill team taught different dances to each age group to be performed at the varsity football game the following week.
“My favorite part of the kid’s clinic was being able to be there and help the girls as they learned and performed the dance,” Howard said. “I like that they were able to come to me with questions and I can help them better understand the dance that they learned. I loved to see their excitement before [performing] and see them enjoy dancing.”
Junior Rileigh Holloway also dances on the varsity Silver Spurs. The Spurs hosts their annual winter recital, with dances from the varsity and JV teams, as well as the Dance 1 and 2 classes.
My favorite memory of drill team would have to be when it’s Christmas time. During December we start learning our Christmas dances for the dance spectacular and for the Christmas tour. Just the feeling of Christmas all around with my favorite people is the best,” Holloway said. — Rileigh Holloway, 11
The Spurs participated in the first Hometown Holidays Dance Spectacular, with performances from drill teams from all five high schools. They traveled to different feeder schools on their holiday tour and shared the joy of dance during the holidays.
“One of my favorite activities that we do annually is our holiday tour. We traveled to the feeder elementary schools and performed our Christmas dances,” Howard said. “It was so much fun to see all of the kids get so excited and also get extra practice in before bigger performances.”
Although the Spurs were limited in the activities they could host and participate in last year, Howard looks forward to the different activities they could do without the same restrictions put in place for COVID-19 this year.
“This year, things are a lot more certain and there aren’t too many setbacks like there was last year. We were able to perform a lot more and travel to other places,” Howard said. “We will travel to Orlando this year and host the team retreat that we didn’t have last year.”
