York College dance students are flying out for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – having been chosen to cheerlead at Miami Dolphins’ American football fixture this Thanksgiving Weekend.
The group of performance and production learners fly out today (Wednesday) ahead of the Dolphins’ NFL fixture against New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
They will be performing at the 65,000-capacity Hard Rock Stadium, which has staged six Super Bowls in the past and will host football games at next year’s World Cup finals.
The Sim Balk Lane students will also be following in the footsteps of global superstars, such as Taylor Swift, the Rolling Stones, Beyonce and Coldplay, who have all played there.
Originally, the dancers were invited to cheerlead alongside students from US schools at the game’s half-time interval.
But the producers were so impressed by the York scholars’ performance during rehearsals that they have been asked instead to perform in the primetime slot before kick-off.
In recent years, York College’s Performance & Production students have also joined Crag David on stage and danced at the Silverstone Formula 1 Grand Prix.
The switch from a half-time performance to a pre-match show saw the group’s workload intensify, as they were tasked with learning three complex, mentally and physically demanding routines in a matter of hours, not weeks.
But hip-hop choreographer Owen Malone, who has been preparing the students for Miami alongside tutor Emma Fawcett, said: “The dancers’ pick-up, in terms of how fast they learn, has been unbelievable!”
Steph Rastinis is one of the Dance & Musical Theatre students who cannot wait to board the plane this week, enthusing: “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to go over there with my friends, and do something I love at such a big venue.”
Another member of the group – Abi Armstrong – added: “I haven’t been dancing for that long, so the chance to dance in Miami is really exciting.”
Ava Auton, meanwhile, pointed out how their tutor has given them the assurance that they have the skills and mentality to perform at such a large-scale event.
“With Emma, she’s always so calm and that makes me feel a lot better because, if she was stressing, we’d be stressing too,” she said.
- To find out more about York College’s Extended Diploma in Performance & Production Arts (Dance & Musical Theatre) course, go here
