Purple Haze
Dancing from the heart
By Lauren Bagian

March 19, 2009

It’s time to shed some light on another one of Northern’s amazing groups. Last Saturday, March 14, Northern hosted a TIA percussion ensemble, dance team and indoor guard competition. Sitting next to a friend of mine who had never seen Northern’s dance team perform, I knew he was in for a treat. Dancing to James Blunt’s “Tears and Rain,” the girls twirled and leaped with tiny white umbrellas in an intoxicating performance that gave anyone watching chills. After the last note from the music, leaving one dancer sitting on the floor covering herself with her umbrella, the crowd burst into cheers.

The next performance caught me off-guard, pardon the pun. Northern’s indoor guard, all members of the outdoor guard (TOB Atlantic Coast Champions for the last 2 years), came out onto the floor clad in conductor garb patterned with Victorian floral, complete with coattails. I was yet to see their performance, I didn’t even know what the song was, but when the classic music was cued by the “conductor” junior Chelsea Musser at the front waving a real conductor’s baton, I was engrossed again in another incredible composition. While spinning rifles and flags in perfect synchronization, the music was simply amplified by the equipment work. I was floored by the package of the performance, but not surprised at all by their professionalism and unbelievable skill.

One of the things that I love about the different dancing ensembles at Northern is how you can see how much they love what they do in their movement. Having the privilege of being able to watch the outdoor guard from a drum major podium, I could see the love they put into their dancing from the giant smiles on their faces. Theses were not cheesy, show smiles, but genuine smiles from the heart. Watching the guard and dance team always makes me wish that I possessed the same skill they have making me less of a bull in a china shop on the dance floor. However, unless they can team five-times as well as they dance, I’ll just leave the dancing to them.