Dancing Queens:  A recap of the Lancer Dancers’ annual spring show

The Lancer Dancers hosted their spring show, Queens of the Castle, on April 11 in the Auditorium to present their award-winning jazz, game day and hip-hop routines to the East community. 

The JV and varsity teams showcased 19 dances including the dances they previously performed at local competitions and the National Dance Alliance nationals this year, along with routines choreographed and performed solely for the spring show. 

The show’s theme — Queens of the Castle — was chosen by varsity seniors because of the main gym’s recent title of “The Castle” according to senior varsity captain Marin McElhinney. 

“I thought it was so cute,”  head coach Alexis Close said. “It also ended up fitting perfectly with so many of the JV songs.”

The tradition of the “Mancer Dancers” — a group of male East students picked by the varsity members who learned a routine to perform in the show — continued this year with a routine performed after intermission. Choreographed by the varsity seniors, this routine was “Pitch Perfect” themed — a theme picked unanimously by the whole varsity team according to McElhinney

“I think the boys were all excited and motivated to do [the routine],” McElhinney said. “It was funny to have the guys dancing to girls’ acapella songs.”

To implement the theme even more, the varsity seniors choreographed the opening number for all 36 lancer dancers to perform to a song by the band Queen. 

Instead of mixing up different songs and having groups showcase certain skills, like the dancers have done in past opening numbers, this year, a different approach was taken to choreograph the opening number. The dancers did the number with just one song and choreographed the groups with many skills.

“This new approach has opened the door for future teams to think outside the box and make the opening number their own,” Close said. “They can have full artistic license to make it what they want it to be.” 

The Lancer Dancers ended their year on a high note, performing all the dances they worked on this school year for the last time in the Spring Show, according to Close. 

“It’s weird knowing that you’re never going to do [the routines] again,” McElhinney said. “[I was] trying to live in the moment and be grateful that I had that opportunity.”