By Elisa Juliano

March 20, 2013

Some students look forward to kicking back and relaxing on the weekends, but for the Dominican Starlettes dance team, this past weekend was dedicated to teaching local girls how to dance.

The Starlettes held a dance clinic for girls between the ages of 7 and 11 on Friday and Saturday in preparation for their performance in the Starlettes annual dance showcase on March 24.

Cassandra Poulos, junior and co-captain of the Starlettes, enjoyed the opportunity teaching young dancers.

“I am excited to see how the final product is going to turn out because we have both the little girls and the dancers dancing together,” she said.

At the dance showcase, the young girls will be performing alongside the Starlettes to Cindy Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”.

“The routine is simple, fun and cutesy,” Poulos said.

Co-captain Katie Walsh believes her goal for this clinic is to make sure the girls just have fun while performing while keeping in mind the safety of the girls during their routines.

“I’m very nervous about people getting hurt and dealing with emergencies,” Walsh said.

Walsh has complied and alphabetized all the participants’ emergency information to have on hand at practices. In addition, the dance team’s advisor is present at all practices.

Poulos said she is most worried about the girls suffering from stage fright, as for many of them, the dance showcase will be their first time ever performing.

“I think the girls might be intimidated to perform in front of their parents and ours,” Poulos explained.

Along with having the Starlettes dance on stage with them for moral support, clinic participants are also encouraged to practice their routines at home. The dance team uploaded a video of the routine to YouTube so the young girls have easy access to viewing the routine on their own time.

Walsh hopes this program will be a success and that they will continue to participate in it every year. She explained that most high schools and colleges hold dance clinics as a way to fundraise for their dance teams. In the past, the team has done numerous bake sales, which unfortunately did not turn out to be very profitable for them. The dance clinic has been their most successful fundraiser to date.

“We’ve gotten close to $400, so that’s triple what a bake sale would make typically,” Walsh said.

This was the second time the dance team attempted to do a clinic for young girls, which turned out to have a much better response this time around.

“As the legend goes, they tried to do a dance clinic seven years ago and only one girl signed up,” Walsh said.

Thirteen girls signed up for the program this year. Each girl was required to pay a $30 registration fee and attend a total of two practices and one dress rehearsal.

The funds raised from the registration fees will be going towards the Starlettes’ overall budget.

The newest dancers will be performing on March 24 at 3:30 in the Lund Auditorium. Tickets will be available at the DUPAC Box Office on the day of the show.