On their toes: Burncoat High Dance Team returns to national championship in Florida

Update: The Burncoat Dance Team placed as semi-finalists at the National Dance Team Championship, making it one round further into the competition than it did last year.

WORCESTER — After it was unable to advance beyond the preliminary rounds of the annual National Dance Team Championship in Orlando, Florida, last year, the 16-member Burncoat High School Dance Team is motivated to prove it was just a fluke, and that it has the talent to take first place.

When the team arrives at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney World this week, it will find itself competing against thousands of other dance teams from high schools around the country, with the effort being broadcast on TV.

“Considering we come from such a small community here, to go in and be in front of all those people, it definitely is like a wild experience,” said Emma Jalbert, one of the five seniors on the team. “I think we're all really thankful that we've experienced it more than once.”

The long weekend involves competing in three rounds: Preliminaries, semifinals and the final round for each of the categories. The winner of each category is announced after the final round.

If the team is able to advance each round, it will perform three routines — a hip-hop routine, a jazz routine and the game-day routine it performs at school sporting events — in each of the rounds.

“I think that, even just for us, advancing onto the next round will be a huge step for our department and our dance team,” said Grace Fitzgerald, another senior. “Most of us feel quite confident.”

That confidence stems from the seniors not only having been through the national competition two other times including as freshmen — the first in the team’s history — and their junior year, but also from how the previous season ended.

Despite not having advanced beyond the preliminary rounds last year, the team came back to compete in the state competition placing second in jazz and hip-hop, and then again in the New England regional competition placing first in jazz and fifth in hip-hop.

The seniors hope to take first in those competitions as well when they come around again in March. Jalbert said it would make it extra special as the regional competition is being held in Massachusetts this year.

Working with pro choreographers

Their coach, Kellie Shea, said the team is also feeling confident because of the amount of work and preparation it has put into its routines including working with professional dance choreographers for each of the categories.

This year, the team worked with Michelle Vaughn on its hip-hop routine. Vaughn has worked with NFL, NBA and college dance teams.

Last year, the group competed only in the jazz category and worked with Karl Mundt to choreograph that routine. Mundt returned this year to work with them in the same category and has experience working with college dance teams like Brigham Young University and the University of Iowa.

And for its game-day routine, the team worked with Justine Pennucci, who is a coach at Burncoat and the head coach of the dance team at UMass Amherst.

Katie Chacharone, another senior, said it meant a lot to her and her teammates to work with professional choreographers because it “pushes us to be better.

“It helps us be more professional all the time, to help us prepare for college and stuff after high school,” she said.

Shea, who took over the program from longtime director Joan Sheary — whose time at the school was featured in the documentary “Toe the Line: Arts Education for Life” — said that this group of seniors is “definitely special.

“They're putting a lot of work into this,” Shea said. “We raised $45,000 to go to nationals and they've done it all with fundraising in the community, and our school support, and the middle schools support, so it's been a journey.”

Shea is also confident in the team’s ability to compete in the state and regional competitions, she said, since it has won seven state titles overall and has qualified for regionals every year for the last six years.

Chance to end on high note

But for Fitzgerald, Jalbert, Chacharone, as well as Anna Corrao and Sophie Smith, the two other seniors, it marks an opportunity for redemption and a chance to ensure they end their season on a high note.

“I think what I'm most excited for is just to see all our hard work pay off,” Fitzgerald said. “You put so much time into this, and it's just like a really rewarding feeling whether you get the results you want or you don't, just to see all your hard work pay off.”

It is also an opportunity to set the newer and younger members of the team up for success, said Annabelle Corrao, another senior.

With years of experience under her belt, not just as a member of the dance team but dancing in general, she and the other seniors have acted as leaders and mentors to her younger teammates throughout the season.

“I think it means a lot because being in their position before and just showing them how much you can grow,” Corrao said. “You want to leave a legacy behind.”

It has also let the members all cherish the time they have left together in their final year and reflect on the happy memories they built together throughout their time on the squad.

One of their biggest moments for bonding, Corrao said, came last year at nationals when they made an a cappella video at Disney, which they later submitted to their school talent show.

They plan to make this year’s trip to Disney another bonding moment for the team, showing off their favorite ride, based on the James Cameron film “Avatar,” and seeing what new things they can experience with their newer, younger teammates.

With the end of the season fast approaching, the seniors are also experiencing the bittersweet feeling of their final year.

While some, including Chacharone, plan to participate in dance teams in college, they are going to miss seeing their teammates every day.

“Something I'll miss is definitely all of the friendships that we have with each other because even though all of the seniors are friends with each other, we're also friends with all the underclassmen as well,” she said. “It definitely gets harder to leave everyone behind.”

Fitzgerald, Jalbert and Corrao all felt similarly, with Fitzgerald saying she will miss the support and accountability they all receive from each other.

“It's a lot of work to balance dance team and schoolwork, but I think that it's kind of nice to prove that we're able to do it all,” she said. “We're there for each other when we need help.”

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Burncoat High Dance Team returns to national championship in Florida