In a traditional spring semester, the Blue Brigade would have competed in two local competitions with the entire team, performing a full slate of routines, some of them involving the entire team, some of them involving selected ensembles. The officers would compete against other officers, and Brigade members would compete in solos and duets.

Well, COVID changed the plan. Instead of two in-person competitions for the whole team, the Brigade decided to compete in only one in-person competition and to bring a smaller group: officers, ensembles, duets and soloists. Instead of competing in person, the entire team recorded numbers and submitted them to a virtual competition.

The team earned several awards at both competitions but ask any of the dancers on the team and they will tell you: in this pandemic school year, just dancing and competing as a team was its own victory.

BLUE BRIGADE SHINES AT CENTRAL TEXAS DANCE FESTIVAL

The Blue Brigade competed at the Central Texas Dance Festival in Georgetown on Feb. 27, and they won multiple awards. In a normal year, those awards might be the primary focus of a post like this one, but as we have long been aware, this is not a normal year. 

“To me, the contest isn’t all about winning, especially this year,” junior lieutenant Charli Cevallos said. “It was more about spending as much time with the team as we can and working hard together to perform dances we love.” 

That was doubly true for the seniors who, in returning to Georgetown’s East View High School, came full circle.  East View was the site of the first competition they entered as freshman four years ago.

“We have had a lot of events get canceled this year due to COVID and weather inconveniences, but being able to be out there dancing to an audience with my Blue Brigade family meant so much to me,” senior co-captain Addie Seckar-Martinez said. “I always tell the team to go out there and just have fun and that’s exactly what we did.”

The team elected not to enter any full team events and instead entered ensembles, duets and solos.

At East View, McCallum swept all three top awards in the duet category for large schools. Sisters and senior lieutenants Andrea and Valentina Paredes finished first, co-captains Seckar-Martinez and Matthew Vargas placed second and juniors Elise Crouse and Anna Schlett placed third.

“Andrea and I have always wanted to do a duet because we love to dance together,” Valentina told MacJournalism. “Our duet was about us growing up and reminiscing our moments together when we were younger.”

She said they were nervous before performing but also happy to be dancing together and grateful to have won first place.

Vargas had another multiple-award day in a Blue Brigade career filled with them. He placed third in the solo competition for large schools and also was part of a trio of dancers that won Best in Class in the Small Ensemble category along with Cevallos and sophomore Sophia Kramer.

Vargas also choreographed the contemporary dance for which the team won a Best in Class Large Ensemble award. Cevallos choreographed the jazz ensemble that earned a second-place award in the large school category.

The Blue Brigade officers–co-captains Seckar-Martinez and Vargas, senior lieutenants Paredes and Paredes and junior lieutenants Cevallos and Annabel Winter, earned a Double Division 1 Award for performing two numbers (jazz and contemporary) that received a score of 90 or above. The officer jazz routine also received a judges’ award.

We mention the awards because they are a part of the story, but the real story and the true reward was being able to dance together at all.

“As seniors it’s always a sad moment to have your last competition,” Valentina Paredes said, “but this year it felt more like a celebration to dance in our last moments as seniors despite everything else going on.”

The day before the team met in the gym and recorded team dances to enter in virtual competitions which were then submitted to the Crowd Pleasers Virtual Showcase. The team also submitted recordings of solos and officer routines. 

BRIGADE VIEWS VICTORIES IN VIRTUAL COMPETITION AT FIELD-HOUSE GATHERING

On the Saturday night March 13, members of the Brigade met in the field house for a viewing party to watch the livestream of the Crowd Pleasers Virtual Showcase III. The team submitted team dances, officer dances and solos to the virtual competition. 

When they weren’t watching the livestream of the performances of the showcase, the team played games including a song battle and “Celebrity,” a game in which each player has a piece of paper and writes down the name of a celebrity or someone everyone knows and then the hosts (social officers Anna Schlett and Harper Cummings) read out all the names. With each name, each player guesses who said the person. If they get it correct they claim that person and all their correct guesses on their team. Let the record show that the “Celebrity” champion was senior Isabelle Baird. 

Speaking of celebrities, how about senior co-captain Matthew Vargas and junior Elise Crouse, who both placed first runner up in their solo competition. Vargas and the other 2020-2021 officers (senior co-captain Addie Seckar-Martinez, senior lieutenants Andrea and Valentina Paredes and junior lieutenants Charli Cevallos and Annabel Winter) claimed some hardware as you will see scrolling through this gallery. The officer jazz routine that won a judge’s award in person won a Best in Class award virtually.

 

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The team did extremely well in the competition as well, earning two Best in Class Awards for their military and hip-hop routines. The hip-hop routine earned a judge’s award and perhaps not surprisingly was the highest scoring hip-hop routine of any team in the competition (including select teams). The other team awards are listed in the gallery below.

 

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We are pleased to dedicate this week’s Tuesday Top 10 to the Blue Brigade and their successful albeit altered 2021 competition season.

ONE TAKE WONDERS: The Blue Brigade officers review the video of the team hip-hop dance to determine if it is good enough to submit to the Crowd Pleasers virtual dance competition. “It was the only dance that we only filmed once and we ended up winning three awards for it,” junior lieutenant Annabel Winter said. Senior co-captain Addie Seckar-Martinez is playing the video for the officers, presumably because her mom filmed the routine on her iPhone on a makeshift tripod constructed with costume boxes and water bottles. The resulting video was lucrative (see next caption). Photo by Madelynn Niles.

HIP-HOP HURRAY! The hip-hop routine not only won Best in Class at the Crowd Pleasers Virtual Showcase III in the large high school classic division, it earned a Crowd Pleasers judges’ award and was the top-scoring hip-hop routine for all teams across all levels in the competition. Photo by Madelynn Niles.

MARCHING TO VICTORY: In the Crowd Pleasures Virtual Showcase competition, the team earned two Best in Class awards, one for hip-hop and one for military (shown here). Both numbers were choreographed by senior lieutenants Andrea and Valentina Paredes, who also selected the music for both numbers. The twins joined the other Blue Brigade officers in a third Best in Class winner, the officer’s jazz routine. Photo by Jennifer Winter.

CROUSE BRINGS DOWN THE HOUSE: Performing her solo at the Central Texas Dance Festival on Feb. 27, Junior Elise Crouse shows off the hard work that she has put into choreographing her solo. Crouse has choreographed for her dance studio, for various auditions and the McCallum Dance Company and she says that it’s something that she enjoys to do, however choreographing her own solo is a different story. “I believe that choreographing for yourself is the hardest part,” Crouse said “It’s easy to know what style and moves will look best for yourself, but it’s hard because I can put a lot of pressure on myself and overthink a lot.” Crouse also performed a duet with fellow junior Anna Schlett, which won second Runner Up. At the Crowd Pleasers Virtual Showcase, Crouse placed second among senior solos in her class at age group. Photo by Dave Winter.

THE PAST IS PRESENT: At the Central Texas Dance Festival at East View High School on Feb. 27, McCallum swept all three top awards in the duet category for large schools. Sisters and senior lieutenants Andrea and Valentina Paredes finished first, co-captains Seckar-Martinez and Matthew Vargas placed second and juniors Elise Crouse and Anna Schlett placed third. “Andrea and I have always wanted to do a duet because we love to dance together,” Valentina said. “Our duet was about us growing up and reminiscing our moments together when we were younger.” She said they were nervous before performing but also happy to be dancing together and grateful to have won first place. Reporting by Zazie Bryant. Photo by Dave Winter.

FULL CIRCLE: For seniors like co-captain Addie Seckar-Martinez, shown here performing in the large ensemble contemporary dance for which the team won a Best in Class award, the site of the Central Texas Dance Festival at Georgetown’s East View High School offered an opportunity to come full circle.  East View was the site of the first competition the seniors entered as freshman four years ago. “We have had a lot of events get canceled this year due to COVID and weather inconveniences, but being able to be out there dancing to an audience with my Blue Brigade family meant so much to me,” Seckar-Martinez said. “I always tell the team to go out there and just have fun and that’s exactly what we did.” Reporting by Zazie Bryant. Photo by Dave Winter.

AIRBORNE ANNABEL: Performing her solo at the Central Texas Dance Festival on Feb. 27, junior Annabel Winter leaps across the gym floor turned stage. The competition allowed McCallum Blue Brigade dancers to once again compete in-person, which Winter felt gave the team an extra boost of confidence. “I loved being able to perform in front of a live audience again,” she said. “I feel like the crowd gave us a lot of energy which made us perform even better. It’s definitely a lot better than just doing it in front of a camera, because the added pressure gave the team a lot of adrenaline, so our jumps and movements were way bigger… I am really glad that we were able to do this competition like we would in a normal year, while staying safe of course.” Reporting by Madelynn Niles. Photo by Dave Winter.

TRIPLE THREAT: In a normal year, winning dance awards would be the primary focus of an in-person dance competition , but junior lieutenant Charli Cevallos said that awards were secondary this year. “To me, the contest isn’t all about winning, especially this year,” junior lieutenant Charli Cevallos said. “It was more about spending as much time with the team as we can and working hard together to perform dances we love.” That was particularly evident during the small ensemble performance Cevallos did with Blue Brigade teammates and dance studio mates, senior Matthew Vargas and sophomore Sophia Kramer. The performance won Best in Class in the Small Ensemble category. Reporting by Carly Johnson. Photo by Dave Winter.

SOARING SOPHIA: During the Central Texas Dance Festival in Georgetown, sophomore Sophia Kramer performs her solo to “All I want” by Kodaline. Though ecstatic to have the ability to perform in person, Kramer expressed her nerves for the performance. “I felt very nervous because we had a whole week and a half taken from us with the snowstorm, which didn’t leave us much time to prepare,” Kramer said. “With this though, I still feel like we did the best we could and the team felt proud of how we performed.” Reporting by Liliana Rodriguez. Photo by Dave Winter.

A DYNAMIC DUET DUO: Perfecting their duet in the McCallum gym on Feb. 26, Blue Brigade co-captains Addie Seckar-Martinez and Matthew Vargas practice their routine for the Central Texas Dance Festival. The two seniors placing second in the in-person competition the next day at East View High School, behind only their senior officer teammates Andrea and Valentine Paredes. Photo by Anna McClellan.

SOPHOMORE SENSATION: Blue Brigade sophomore Nia Wayman competed in the Central Texas Dance Festival, and was a part of a jazz and contemporary ensemble, as well as having a solo. This festival was the McCallum Blue Brigade’s first in- person competition, and a lot of preparation went into it. “It took a lot of hard work and extra practices,” she said, “but it was all really fun along the way.” Even though COVID changed up the way the competition season was organized, McCallum still did very well. “All our duets and trios placed,” Wayman said. “I feel we performed very well.” Reporting by Liliana Rodriguez. Photo by Dave Winter.

SATURDAY NIGHT’S ALRIGHT FOR VIEWING: On the Saturday night March 13, members of the Brigade met in the field house for a viewing party to watch the livestream of the Crowd Pleasers Virtual Showcase III. The team submitted team dances, officer dances and solos to the virtual competition. Photo by Nancy Searle.

CELEBRITY SIGHTING: When they weren’t watching the livestream of the performances of the showcase, the team played games including a song battle and “Celebrity,” a game in which each player has a piece of paper and writes down the name of a celebrity or someone everyone knows and then the hosts (social officers Anna Schlett and Harper Cummings) read out all the names. With each name, each player guesses who said the person. If they get it correct they claim that person and all their correct guesses on their team. Let the record show that the “Celebrity” champion was senior Isabelle Baird. Photo by Harper Cummings. 

FINAL LEAP FOR VARGAS: Performing his senior solo at the Central Texas Dance Festival on Feb. 27, senior Blue Brigade Co-Captain Matthew Vargas danced to “A Moment Like This” by Kelly Clarkson. Vargas said he chose the song because he’d been waiting for his final senior performance. “After doing my solo at the competition, I felt so happy and I felt like I had never danced so good in my life” Vargas said. This performance was a lyrical solo, which was his favorite type of solo. Vargas’ final costume was custom made, so nobody would have one like it. Though this year wasn’t how Vargas pictured senior year, he took in the moment and danced to the best of his abilities. Reporting by Mia Gomez. Photo by Dave Winter.