Drill Team Members Preparing To Step Out For Another Show

Cassie Green and Jessie Stout remember their first performance well. It was at a Gonzaga University men’s basketball game last December. Dressed in black stretch pants and white T-shirts emblazoned with the letters “NEYC,” they kicked, spun and wiggled to Will Smith’s song “Miami.”

“It was really embarrassing,” said 10-year-old Jessie. “There was a big crowd and everyone had their eyes on you.”

“It was cool,” added Cassie, 11, “but we were shaking.”

But that was last year. Now four weeks into their second drill team session - sponsored by the Northeast Youth Center - the girls are building courage as they build on their repertoire of dance moves.

After the first session, youth center director Kimbre Vega decided to divide the girls into more manageable, age-appropriate groups.

“There are ones who can really shake it and move, and some who aren’t quite there yet,” she said. So now on Tuesday and Thursday nights, there are 7- to 11-year-olds in the Cooper Elementary School gym, and 12- to 14-year-olds practicing in the cafeteria next door.

Coach Gina Peterson, who is also the captain of the dance team at Rogers High School, is gearing up for the girls’ next performance the beginning of March. Now, with her team whittled down to 17, she finds them much easier to handle.

Drill teams traditionally perform on the field during football halftimes with flags and hoops. But since these girls don’t use props, it’s easier to think of them as a dance team. After all, that’s what they’re there for.

“We just like to dance. It’s fun to learn stuff to teach to our friends at school,” said Alexandra Pruitt, 7. “We used to get really bored. So this gives us something to do.”

“And it’s more fun than playing school,” added her best friend Jennifer Walters, 7.

But what the girls may not realize, their coach will explain: The dance team does more than just kill time.

“It can make a big difference in kids,” Peterson said. “It gives them a sense of personality. It eases tension in big groups.”

Peterson also enforces a dress code to teach responsibility. Tennis shoes are a must and jeans are not allowed. Instead, the girls need to wear something they can easily move in.

The dancers-in-training come from a handful of different elementary schools, which allows them to make new friends as they learn to groove.

Practice occurred in a follow-theleader fashion. Girls formed two lines and tried to copy Peterson’s steps and motions.

Everything seemed to be in sync until they had to spin. With direct eye contact from their leader severed, most girls found themselves spinning out of orbit.

Peterson rushed over to help get her little satellites back in place.

But that’s what practice is for. Karen Bragg came to watch her daughter Krista, and liked what she saw.

“It’s good for her,” Bragg said. “I thought they might have been goofing off a lot last time, but I guess that’s good. too.”

Fuel for a dream, framework for a goal - this dance team just might hold a future generation of Rockettes.

Asked if they might want to be dancers when they grow up, the girls got little stars in their eyes and screamed “Yes!”

And then Jennifer quickly added: “A teacher, a singer and a dancer.”