On Friday and Saturday, the Blue Brigade held its annual spring show, this year entitled ‘BB Live.’ As usual, the show included contest group numbers, special guest dances, and the senior members’ farewell speeches and solos, but the theme channeled a unique concert atmosphere, with several key numbers featuring microphones, lip syncing and pop anthems. 

The high-energy remixes to Rihanna and Beyoncé were complemented by tender emotions. During their senior speeches and introductions, the Class of 2024 dancers shared what Blue Brigade means to them. A common answer was family. To channel this close sense of community, the team had a seat reserved in the MAC auditorium for senior Sofia Orton’s late mother with a poster and flowers. 

This year, Jami Friedman joined the Blue Brigade family as the assistant director. Friedman took her experience as a Kilgore College Rangerette to clean and choreograph dances for the team’s contest season, some of which were showcased at the spring show. 

Family also included Blue Brigade members from the past. During the last number of the Friday show, senior co-captain Kylie Reeves injured her knee and was unable to dance the next night. While she lost the opportunity to perform her senior solo and the group numbers, Reeves joined class of 2023 Blue Brigade officer alumni Nia Wayman and Sophia Kramer as an emcee. 

We are proud to present a gallery of ‘BB Live’ and the Blue Brigade family in this week’s Tuesday Top 10 photo essay.

AN UNEXPECTED TWIST: Senior Kylie Reeves performs her senior solo Friday night, a tradition Blue Brigade spring tradition for seniors every year. She chose her piece, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” because of her love for Elton John. 

“I thought it was funny because it’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” and our school is on Sunshine Drive,” she said. 

Reeves said because it was her fourth and final one, the 2024 spring took on an added significance. 

“Blue Brigade means so much to me because I am able to express myself through dance,” she said. “There are so many opportunities to perform, which is my favorite part of dancing.” 

Her favorite routine of the night included the 2023-2024 officers, performing “Baby I’m a Star” by Prince. 

“It is such a high energy song, and overall a fun dance to be a part of,” she said. 

Taking a twist at the end, Reeves injured her knee on the last dance of the night, making her unable to perform Saturday night. She ended up emceeing the performance the second night, on Saturday, an experience new to her. 

“Because I talk in front of people and crowds a lot, I wasn’t scared,” Reeves said. “It was more of a glimpse into the future, when I’ll become an emcee next year.” 

Reeves said she enjoyed reading the dances to the audience off the list, and added her own personal touch. 

Dislocating her knee the night before was not what she had planned, and as she emceed, she was filled with emotions. 

“I went into it thinking I wasn’t going to cry,” she said. “I was crying at pretty much every dance. I don’t know if it was because I couldn’t perform with them, or I was sad to leave, but it was probably a mixture of both.” 

Reeves said it was hard not to perform the second night. 

“It was the hardest thing to do as a graduating senior and captain of Blue Brigade, that I couldn’t perform Saturday night,” she said. “I made the best out of my situation, and was so grateful that I was still able to be a part of the show.” 

Caption by Priya Thoppil. Photos by Dave Winter and Meredith Grotevant.

JAZZED ABOUT BB: Senior El McGinnis dances front and center during the Blue Brigade’s team jazz number. McGinnis, the drill team’s senior lieutenant, said her favorite part of the show was watching the other seniors perform their solos.

“It was an emotional experience,” McGinnis said. “At the start of the show I was happy to be dancing with my girls for the last time, but by the end of the show it started to hit me that it would be the last time dancing with this group of girls.”

For her own solo, McGinnis said there was not much reason in her choice for her song other than because she liked its buildup.

“Personally, my mind goes blank when I dance,” McGinnis said. “I was feeling happy just to be able to perform.”

McGinnis said the most memorable part of the year for Blue Brigade was getting to see the team improve and have fun.

“Watching my peers look happy and successful was all I could have asked for this last year.”

Caption by Camilla Vandergrift. Photo by Priya Thoppil.

TO THE BEAT OF HER OWN DRUM: Junior Catherine Haikola dances across the stage in her first solo as Blue Brigade captain. In a short onstage ceremony just before this dance, seniors and this year’s captains, Sophie Leung-Lieu and Kylie Reeves, presented a speech in which they passed on the torch of captaincy to Haikola.

“It was a little nerve-wracking,” Haikola said. “But it was exciting for Sophie and Kylie to pass that on to me. It felt really special.”

Haikola will lead the Blue Brigade for the coming school year.

“It’s a big position to fill,” Haikola said. “But I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

Haikola’s solo was one she had performed during the drill team’s contest season.

“The song was ‘I Miss You’ by Adele,” she said. “I just really liked the song, and I thought it would be great to choreograph to, so I made a solo to it.”

Facing the upcoming season as captain, Haikola said her solo is symbolic of her new position.

“I feel like it represents what is to come next year,” she said. “And what I hopefully will bring to the team as the main leader.”

Caption by Camilla Vandergrift. Photo by Meredith Grotevant.

LEAPING INTO NIGHT ONE: Sophomore Olivia Pittman and her sophomore Blue Brigade teammates perform their class dance on the first night of their team’s Spring Show. The dance, according to Pittman, was unique because it was the only dance the sophomores got to perform by themselves, giving them an opportunity to showcase what they had been working on. 

“It was super fun to work within my class to perfect a dance,” Pittman said. “We all performed dances that we previously performed at this year’s pep rallies.” 

The sophomore members of the team this year were assigned the dance “Work it out.” For Pittman, it was enjoyable to be able to relive that part of the year, and bring such high spirit to the stage.

“Spring show is the perfect way to end off the year,” Pittman said. “We do performances from contest season and pep rallies, as well as dances specific to spring show, so it feels like this is the perfect closer to our year, and it truly demonstrates the amount of time and effort we have to put in all year.”

Pittman said her highlight of the season was getting to dance in front of large audiences, and the packed MAC for spring show was a perfect example of that.

“It is our last performance as a team, and it feels like we get to show everyone what we have been working on for this entire year.” 

Pittman said the opening night performance was especially gratifying.

“The first night of a show is always special because it feels super rewarding to show your dance to the world for the first time,” Pittman said. “The first show is also always the most nerve-wracking because you don’t know how it is going to go in front of an audience, but that makes it even more exciting.” 

Caption by Chloe Lewcock. Photo by Priya Thoppil.

While Blue Brigade’s spring show offers a collection of traditional dances, it also allows for the opportunity to showcase different sides of the work Blue Brigade does year-round, one of those is their kiddie clinic. 

“Kiddie clinic’s dance is a tradition that happens every year,” junior Greta Wayman said. “Last year it was a very small group, but this year we had a lot more.” 

Kiddie clinic,which is Blue Brigade’s annual summer camp for elementary school students, is an opportunity for kids to learn dances over the four-day camp. 

“They split into classes, and they learn one dance every day,” Wayman said. “We also do lots of arts and crafts, like we made bracelets last year, and at the end of the camp they perform the dances that they learned.” 

Later in the year, Blue Bridge reaches out to those same kiddie clinic members to ask them to dance in the spring show. 

“It’s a dance that the incoming and returning social officers work on,” Wayman said. “They teach a dance to any kiddie clinic members from the past year that want to come and do it.” 

According to Wayman, having the same kids back is always a welcome a full-circle moment.

“It’s always nice to reconnect with the kids that you met over the summer,” Wayman said.   

Caption by Naomi Di-Capua. Photo by Priya Thoppil. 

DANCING DADS: Senior co-captain Sophie Leung Lieu and her dad dance on stage together during the annual “dad’s dance.” Every year the Blue Brigade dancers have the honor to invite their dads to participate in one dance. This year, the dads danced to a mashup of songs from the movie “Grease.” 

For Leung Lieu, this year was her fourth year participating in the dad’s dance. 

“I’ve done it since I was a freshman,” Leung Lieu said. “I really liked this year’s dad’s dance because the socials chose Grease for our theme which was really fun and went with our theme of the show.”

One of Leung Lieu’s favorite parts of the dad’s dance is being able to engage in a dance that differs from the other dances Blue Brigade performs.

“We get to have a little more fun with it and also get to incorporate our parents,” Leung Lieu said.  “I’m very grateful that the Blue Brigade has opportunities for more fun performances.” 

Leung Lieu has loves being able to dance alongside her dad for all of these years. 

“I loved that my dad got to dress up for it,” Leung Lieu said. “He got really into it because he loved the ‘Grease” theme and he had his blue jeans and his white shirt and his cool glasses for it.”

Caption by Chloe Seckar-Martinez. Photo by Maya Tackett.

NOBODY KNOWS: The class of 2024’s high school career started off rocky. Like her peers, senior Courtney Swinney faced the simultaneous difficulty of transitioning to high school and navigating a pandemic. Swinney however, also had to balance transferring to McCallum from another school, leaving her feeling as though she had bitten off more than she could chew. Because of this tough adjustment, Swinney didn’t join Blue Brigade until her sophomore year. She said she made up for lost time these past two years.

“I was really excited and looked up to the high school dancers. I just knew I wanted to be a part of the team,” Swinney said, “Now that I’ve been a part of BB for a while I’ve cherished every moment. I’m sad I wasn’t a part of it for longer.”

This year’s spring show marks the end of an era for Swinney, and as a senior, she knew her solo had to reflect that. Dancing to the Lumineers’ “Nobody Knows,” with choreography from UT dance student and Mac alum Lily Brown, Swinney wanted to represent wholeheartedly who she was as a dancer and person. 

“My solo is inspired by the song and my growth as a person throughout high school,” she said. 

A testament to the friends she’s made, the work she’s put in and even the 7:30 a.m. start times, Swinney felt as though her solo helped her to express feelings that are hard to put into words.

“I felt it perfectly captured how I feel saying goodbye to my time at Mac,” she said. “Nobody really knows how to say goodbye to a chunk of time as important to who you are as this has been to me.”

Swinney said she will miss her time on the team. Next year, she’ll be 449 miles away at Oklahoma State University studying nursing, and while she’s excited for the change, she won’t forget her roots.

“I’m going to miss starting my day with such a wonderful group of people,” Swinney said, “ I think BB has truly been a blessing in my life. I can’t wait to come back and watch my friends again in the future.”

Caption by Helen Martin. Photo by Priya Thoppil.

KICKIN’ IT DURING APPLAUSE: On the opening night of the show, sophomore Liliana Escamilla (far right) and other Blue Brigade members join together for a kick group during the dance “Applause,” which concluded the first half of the performance. The dance included four groups that each performed various tricks. These groups showcased leaps, kicks, tap-dancing and turns. 

“I think it went well,” Escamilla said. “It was a crowd favorite, and I had many people tell me they loved the dance.”

The Blue Brigade spring show, ‘BB Live,’ happened over two different nights, Friday and Saturday. Escamilla thought that while backstage transitions were a little crazy, when the time came to go onstage the team came together and put on a good show. 

“It was a bit chaotic backstage, but nobody could tell in the audience, and the show looked good to them,” she said.

“We kinda just went with the flow and everyone pushed as hard as they could to perform since it was one of the only nights the show occurred,” Escamilla said.

Coming right out of intermission, the group performed a black light dance which Escamilla acknowledged as her favorite.

“My favorite was the black light because that one is so fun to do and looks super cool under the lights,” she said. 

Learning the black light dance only took Blue Brigade one hour-long practice to learn. Since most dances were reused from competitions and pep rallies, Blue Brigade only had to learn four new dances. This took the team around two weeks. 

Looking towards the future, Escamilla is excited to see the new officers lead the team.

“I’m really excited for our new officers,” she said. “I feel like they are going to work so well together, and they’re all amazing dancers, so, I think they will help our team do well.”

Caption by Maya Tackett. Photo by Priya Thoppil. 

A TURNING POINT IN BB SEASON: Sophomore Chloe Seckar-Martinez and her teammates takes the stage during their contemporary dance “Turning Tables.” While Blue Brigade typically focuses on the spirited pom routines and kick lines at football games, Seckar-Martinez said the team’s spring show provides a unique opportunity for them to try a different style of dance. 

Because the dance differed from normal Blue Brigade style, she said it was especially rewarding to perform the number and see it succeed. 

“It’s like one of our only dances where we’re really more into the emotional side of it,” Seckar-Martinez said. 

For Seckar-Martinez, the dance was especially unique because it was the second to last time she would be performing with seniors.

“It was meaningful because our seniors were able to have this show without feeling really sad,” Seckar-Martinez said. “This was our chance to do [perform] with not as necessarily high of emotions, since before we didn’t know we were going to be able to dance it again.” 

The contemporary dance was choreographed by assistant director Jamie Friedman. Seckar-Martinez said the dance perfectly illustrated what Friedman has brought to the team. 

“This was the first dance that we ever got choreographed by our assistant director, so that was really special,” Seckar-Martinez said. “To be able to do one of her pieces, especially at the show, since this is her first year, was something very meaningful.”

Seckar-Martinez said the dance created an emotional connection between those who performed it, and the amount of work that went into perfecting it for the stage.

“It was a very meaningful dance, and it was our chance to just have a lot of fun with it and just see what we can show the audience for the first time,” Seckar-Martinez said. “It may have been something that no one’s heard of, or that no one’s seen.” 

Caption by Chloe Lewcock. Photo by Maya Tackett.

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