On December 8, 2019, the GHS Pantherettes hosted their annual winter showcase in the main gym, as it was the first showing of all of their competition routines for the season. It included the 2 team competition routines, a large ensemble, 2 solos, little girls camp routines, a dedication dance, and more. At 1:30, the event began, starting off with the national anthem. 

   The opening routine was the TC dedication dance (choreographed by senior Caroline Brown to Sheppard’s Coming Home) in memory of Ms. Teri Calhoun, teacher at GMS and Pantherettes coach who passed away due to cancer during her third year of coaching in 2011. The current Pantherettes have made it a tradition to always dance their hearts out dance for Teri and will do so for years to come. 

   Seniors Hannah Bubala and Emilia Shapiro, juniors Katie Bilka and Mireya Pena, Sophomore Rylee Reiser, and freshmen Bella Andriessen and Madi Worosz also performed their large ensemble to Ingrid Michaelson’s Light Me Up. Soloists and seniors Caroline Brown and Sara Mehisen performed their pieces to Deep End by Birdy and Half Light by BANNERS. All three routines were choreographed by head coach Brooke Maglish. Bubala performed a showcase-only solo to Florence + the Machine’s Cosmic Love, and a duet with Shapiro to Somewhere Only We Know by Keane, which were both choreographed by assistant coach Julianne Long. 

   The two team routines, jazz and Pom, both choreographed by Maglish, drew the most people  to the event. Jazz, danced to by Ellie Goulding’s Dead In The Water, stared Mehisen, who is having trouble finding herself in all of the confusion, as represented by the other dancers. The Pom dance is a fast mix of upbeat songs to get the crowd pumped up.

   Guest dance studios, Lynn Marie School of Dance in Illinois, and Industrial Dance Project of Crown Point, also performed their routines, some choreographed by Maglish. There was a variety of dance styles, from hip hop to ballet and contemporary. The winter little girls camp participants also performed their short routines they have been working on for the past week, lead by a few Pantherettes per grade. 

   Next year, the showcase will feature relatively the same types of routines, but with more unique surprises here and there. The Pantherettes encourage others to “Live Strong, Dance Stronger.”