In their fifth year, the Milton High School Lady Panthers Dance Team continues to allow students the opportunity to show their creativity along with showing their school and community spirit.
“I do dance at a studio, but we don’t choreograph there, we just learn,” said Sarah Courey, the team’s incoming captain for next year. “Teaching and coming up with my own choreography, it’s definitely a challenge…but it’s a lot of fun because I get to put my own personal flair into that.”
Courey, like several of the dance members, is a student at the Dance Academy of Santa Rosa. Director Renee Bell said the team is open to all students, regardless if they are a part of a dance school. Bell believes the team is filling an artistic void.
“Its bringing back something that had been missing, they have been doing a fantastic job in the past five years,” Bell said. “To me, it’s a way for them to have a creative outlet with what they are passionate about.”
In addition to performing at school events, like the homecoming parade or a school talent show, the seven member team is also looking to perform at more community events, Bell said.
For the first time, the team performed for a group of senior citizens. The team also teaches dance to children at W.H. Rhodes Elementary School.
“We usually work with them once a year,” said Team Captain Anastasia Amos. “We have team dance that we show them and a bunch of mini dances that we taught them.”
After being part of the dance team for four years, Amos said her experience in dance has been great.
“It has made me the person that I am today,” she said. “I get to express myself, it’s exercise and it’s makes me smile.”
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Dance Team offers 'creative outlet'