By Jackie Belliveau, Banner Staff

Since its inception almost a decade ago, the Winsor Dance Team has never failed to impress the rest of the Winsor community with their performance skills. At Under the Lights and assemblies, the team consistently inspires with their amazing moves. But what goes into preparing the performances for the Winsor community? 

Winsor Dance Team is a semester-long course taught by Dance Teacher Ms. Ciaraldi in the fall and spring and counts for major arts and P.E. credits. The course is audition-based, and those seeking to join must submit a video of themselves performing a piece, which is reviewed by the Arts Department, before they are admitted to the class. Although Dance Team is only a semester course, many students opt to stay in it year-round.

The team’s captains this year are Saratu Waya ’26, Kendal Pauyo ’26, and Zora Chirunga ’26. When asked what a typical Dance Team class looks like, Waya responded, “If we’re working towards a performance, we have a brief warm-up… which consists of some stretching, warming up our bodies, and getting ready for movement. Then we move into the actual choreography that we’re working on. Our typical style of learning [the choreography] is to push through and get the choreography into our bodies before going back later and ‘cleaning’ all of it up to make sure it’s good enough to perform.” Team Member Robin Chavez Shirman ’27 added, “We do a lot of contemporary, lyrical, hip-hop, and mainstream, like the stuff you see in music videos.” 

Winsor Dance Team gives students the power to craft and execute original choreography with their peers. When asked how she feels about choreographing and performing her own pieces, Waya said, “It’s very fun. I like choreographing my own pieces because I know that when I go onstage, I won’t feel uncomfortable doing it because I put it together. I like working with other people a lot; I’ve gotten to work with people who have all different skill levels and experience in the style that I’m choreographing in.” 

Get excited for Dance Team’s next assembly performance this spring! The program will include several student pieces as well as an original piece by Ms. Ciaraldi. The Banner can’t wait to see what awesome work the team creates next!