In the tradition of Dancing with the Stars, Mountain Ridge High School’s Dancing with the Sentinels contest pairs ballroom team members with students from various school teams and clubs to choreograph, learn and perform a dance that will impress the student body.

MRHS ballroom team coach Missy Orton said she always hopes to gain more awareness for ballroom and for students to realize that anyone can dance. She said this year’s dancers had a lot of talent.

“They rose to the occasion and did a great job with making their dances entertaining,” she said. “My favorite part of Dancing with the Sentinels is seeing kids from all groups around the school learning ballroom and having so much fun with it.”

Ballroom team dancer Josie Watson choreographed a jive routine for her partner Dylan Palacios, representing Latinos In Action. (Photo courtesy Izzy Mabey)

This year’s matchups included students from football, choir, lacrosse, cross country, drill, Latinos In Action, stage crew, special ed and dance company.

Ballroom dancer Kai Flores was partnered with Elsie Woodward, a member of the drill team, who he knew had endurance and the ability for precise movements. He choreographed their dance to highlight her strengths.

“Drill is known for their turns, for being so in sync, and so knowing that she's able to do those big ballet-looking ones, I wanted to incorporate them into my dance,” Flores said.

He also wanted her to try new moves.

“Lifts is very unique to ballroom—you don't see that very often in like other forms of dance, so I wanted to give her that opportunity to do some lifts, and she did really well with that as well,” he said.

Woodward said the final lift in the routine was her favorite part.

“I was on his shoulder, and then he spins, and then I arch back and slide down,” she said. “We do some sorts of lifts on drill, but they're nothing like ballroom. Ballroom is a lot more risky lifts, and it's very exciting doing them.”

Flores felt like they really came together as partners.

“I just loved how in sync we were,” he said. “There was a part in the beginning where we do these kicks, and I liked that because I could just feel that we were in sync and it was just so cool.”

Kasi Kellis made sure her rumba and cha-cha routine highlighted her partner Jack Sayre, a member of the cross country team.

“I know he's really strong, so I put in a lot of lifts so he can hold me instead of the technical dance steps, because I know that's not really his forte,” she said. Sayre said Kellis made him look good, especially when they performed the “coat hanger” hold.

“I feel like that's pretty impressive, and she does it super easily, which is super cool,” he said.

Ballroom dancer Josie Watson choreographed a jive routine for her and her partner Dylan Palacios, representing Latinos In Action club. Knowing he had a background in hip-hop, she had him incorporate some of those moves into their dance.

Ballroom dancer Kasi Kellis choreographed several lifts to highlight the strength of her partner Jack Sayre, a member of the cross country team.

“There was a part where he did a count of eight, and then I would join him on the next count of eight, and we would do the same thing, and he choreographed the whole thing,” Watson said.

Palacios, an award-winning Kpop dancer, said ballroom was a new type of dance experience for him. His favorite move he learned for the routine was called the windmill, which initially intimidated him.

“I was so scared the first time we did it, I was just like, ‘Okay, don’t fail,’” he said.

Watson said they practiced together for weeks so that by the night of the competition, they were both confident in all the moves. 

The partnerships performed their dances for an audience of peers, family members and friends who voted for their favorite couple at the end of the night.

A group of sophomore friends attended the performance because they had heard so much about it.

“They hyped this up so much and it didn’t disappoint,” one student said.  “It was cool how they stepped outside their comfort zone and it took a lot of courage to go up there and perform.”

Another student, who has taken ballroom classes, was impressed at how well the novices learned ballroom techniques in such a short time.

“Some of the small things they had down, like in cha-cha, the movement of the hips, they were just so good at getting all the little details,” she said.

Dancing with the Sentinels is one of the school’s favorite traditions, Orton said. The audience votes and the top three winning couples receive a small trophy, but the event is also a fundraiser for the ballroom team. The money collected for admission and for extra ballots so audience members could cast multiple votes will help pay for ballroom team costumes, competition fees and guest teachers.