Hazelwood West Middle School Wildcat Rockettes performed on New Year\u2019s Eve during half-time at AutoZone Liberty Bowl<\/p>\n
The Wildcat Rockettes, a dance team from Hazelwood West Middle School,\u00a0 performed during half-time at the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee on New Year\u2019s Eve.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year was the first year we had a dance team at the middle school basketball games,\u201d said Kelly Pearce, a sixth-grade teacher and the team\u2019s sponsor. \u201cAt the end of the year, I received a call from the Bowl Games of America, saying someone referred our team to them for consideration and would we be interested in performing at one of the college bowl games?\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer was an emphatic \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just picked the bowl game closest to St. Louis, which is the Liberty Bowl,\u201d Pearce said. \u201cThe team will dance to a medley of songs, including \u2018Love Train\u2019 from the O\u2019Jays and \u2018Money\u2019 by Pink Floyd. I\u2019m excited. I think it\u2019s a great opportunity for them. It\u2019s one that will not come up every day. I hope the trip sparks their interest for when they are in high school and they might go out for poms or dance there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two of the Wildcat Rockettes expressed their enthusiasm proir to the trip and what they enjoy about dance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited and grateful that I\u2019m getting the opportunity to dance with other students from around the country and getting to meet them,\u201d said eighth-grade student Ciara Chang.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I like most about dancing is that you get to express yourself without words and that\u2019s especially helpful when you\u2019re like me; you sometimes have trouble using your words to describe how you feel,\u201d said Chang.\u00a0\u201cBut really I love everything about dancing – feeling happy, the freedom and sometimes challenges you have to face when learning something new and its healthy for you, how can you not love that?<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been dancing since I was little.\u00a0I don\u2019t take classes; it\u2019s part of my family – I\u2019m Hispanic,\u201d she said. \u201cI can\u2019t remember a time in my life that I haven\u2019t heard Latin music booming throughout the house on weekends and my mom and I dancing or singing to it.\u00a0My mom got me into dancing; she taught me every Latin dance that I know – salsa, meringue, bachata, cumbia and more. I will try out for the high school dance team next year and I hope I make it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very excited that our dance squad gets the opportunity to attend; it\u2019s probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience,\u201d said seventh-grade student Kayla Foust. \u201cIn dance, you can be yourself and you get to just put all your emotions into it. I\u2019ve been dancing for about eight years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pearce said the trip\u00a0was\u00a0financed by\u00a0money from school fundraisers. In addition to performing at the game, the dance team performed as part of a parade on Beale Street\u00a0 on Dec.\u00a0 30.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hazelwood West Middle School Wildcat Rockettes performed on New Year\u2019s Eve during half-time at AutoZone Liberty Bowl The Wildcat Rockettes, a dance team from Hazelwood West Middle School,\u00a0 performed during half-time at the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee on New Year\u2019s Eve. \u201cLast year was the first year we had a dance team at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-school-news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n