The Highlandettes had a full house both nights at their annual spring show this weekend at Lake Highlands High School. The theme was “Life’s a Jungle Gym,” and the Dettes enlisted a variety of school groups and student talent to help them entertain the crowd. We have a slide show of photos from backstage here.
My favorites were the opener, danced on real playground equipment, and the tap number done with jump ropes. The Red Line’s high kick to “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” was amazing, with choreography learned from the Dettes’ trip to New York, and it was easy to see why the pom routine to “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” earned them first place in competition. The hip-hop crew donned suspenders and eyeglasses to dance as the “Geek Squad,” and the very talented captain, Karin Claussen, and first lieutenant, Abbey Smith, had soulful solos.
It was the swan song performance for the team’s seniors, who went out in style dancing to a song appropriately called, “Good Luck.” Demonstrating the circle of life, the incoming “rookies” were next on the bill with “We Are Gonna Be Friends.” We also got a glimpse of future Dette lines when younger girls, aged kindergarten through seventh grade, performed the routines they learned in their “Dancin’ with the Dettes” dance camps to the delight of their parents and grandparents in the audience.
The Highlandette Booster Club and Frances Davenport Pitchford, first Highlandette director, were there to present college scholarships to four deserving seniors who demonstrated work ethic, academic success and commitment to the team: Meredith Wachel (Baylor), Havilland Voss (UT), Nicole Jeske (UT) and Shannon Simmons (Baylor). Senior Whitney Sides was crowned Golden Girl, a traditional honor given by the line to the girl who best represents the squad “both in and out of the uniform.”
Finally, the traditional show-stopper finale, originally choreographed by former Highlandette director Vicki Coleman McIntosh, was performed exactly as it has been by Dette lines over the years. Cheering in the audience were 13 of last year’s seniors, returning home from colleges all over the country to support the team. Here’s hoping we can count on seeing the 2010 seniors this time next year. Congratulations Dettes on a great show.
