The words “Riverside Brookfield High School JV and Varsity Pupettes” were displayed in blue on the DePaul University jumbotron on Thursday, January 25. RB’s varsity and junior varsity poms teams visited past RB alumni and DePaul dancers Nina Zoppi and Annabella Cornolo, showing their support for the Blue Demons during a basketball game against Marquette University.
Given that the RB dance community is often close-knit, Coach Tia Sherman remained in contact with Zoppi and other alumni after graduation. This facilitated an arrangement for the Pupettes to experience a college dance team performance as a team for the first time. The intention was not only to gain some inspiration for their own choreography, but also to see what it could be like for some of the Puppettes looking to continue dancing in college.
“I think it was cool to see what the next level is like on a collegiate level and see how they perform and how similar it is to our sidelines. It was cool to compare and say ‘Wow, that could be us next year.’ I thought it was really cool to see them be a part of a new dance team and do the sidelines, and it was nice to sit from a different perspective,’’ senior and varsity dancer Lauren Sanduski said.
Even with the scoreboard reporting against the odds for a win, the Division I competitive team did not fail to deliver a high-energy jazz routine along with the other halftime performer, a unicyclist. It’s easy to say that DePaul set some high expectations for those Pupettes aspiring to become collegiate dancers or join the Blue Demons one day.
“The unicycle was really cool. She kept throwing her bowls and catching it on her foot and flip it on her head. The crowd was really cheering on. I really liked how right when the basketball team came on, they had flame machines. I thought, ‘RB should do this.’ I also really liked how they were throwing shirts, and they came out in parachutes,” Sanduski said.
“I felt like they put a lot of effort into it,” said freshman and varsity dancer Annika Weeks.
After the game, the Pupettes were given special privileges to interact with the DePaul team, ask questions, and see what the other side of a game day might look like for a college student.
“Nina came in and helped choreograph a dance. We took a tour of the locker room, and we got to meet a bunch of the players and take pictures,” said Weeks.
All-in-all, the game was a great chance for the RB Poms Team to hear about and see what a college performance is like from familiar faces. Although being a collegiate dancer and student can be presumably demanding, now graphic design major Cornolo and psychology major Zoppi seem to have given quite a thrilling performance and have been given the opportunity to compete in the UDA Nationals and visit Disneyland.
“It was really fun, and I thought it was cool how we could see them perform and see what it was like for them to perform at a college campus,” freshman and varsity dancer Samantha Bolt said.
