Everyone’s heard of Dancing with the Stars, a popular dancing competition where pairs compete to earn the highest score. East High School’s Student Council hosts their own version of the show, Dancing with the Sparts. This year, the event will take place on Friday, January 23. Nine pairs of East students will perform a choreographed dance hoping to win the grand prize, a $20 7 Brew gift card.
The Student Council Dancing with the Sparts committee consists of Grace Fry, Natalie Brandt, Chloe Berry, and Norah Liesveld, with Tobin Gronewold as the chair. They work together to recruit dancers, reserve decorations, and coordinate the event. The most difficult part for them is finding enough people willing to compete and ensuring that those signed up have their dances finished by the event.
During the event, the pairs perform their routine one at a time, with four judges watching them. The judges will provide them with a score from one to ten, ten being the highest. The top four teams with the highest scores will move on to the next and final round, where they re-perform their dance. The judges rescore their routine, and the pair with the highest score wins the 7 Brew gift card. Each judge has their own criteria for how they score the dances, so different aspects are being considered during the performance.
For this year’s Dancing with the Sparts, Student Council has made a few changes. The biggest one is that there will be a fan vote, similar to Dancing with the Stars. During the final round, rather than relying solely on the judges’ scores, students will be able to text to vote. This means students will play a role in the final decision, and can vote for their favorite pair. Another change is that there will be spotlights pointed at the dancing pair throughout their routine. They will help to highlight the dancers and make their moves stand out.
“It’s fun to see how it grows each year,” Gronewold said. “Especially because this is only the second year we’re doing it.”
Not only is the event time consuming for Student Council but also for the dancing pairs. They have to spend time choreographing their own dance moves, and practicing until they’ve perfected it. Students are given free rein with their dances, so there’s a lot of room for creativity.
“It’s an activity to get you out there and meet new people. It also helps people to try something new and different,” Dancing with the Sparts performer Samantha Aguilar said. “It’s a good way to embrace the whole high school experience.”
Dancing with the Sparts is something that’s original to Lincoln East, so students should take advantage of the opportunity. It’s an amazing way to connect with more people and try something new, while also supporting Student Council.
“It’s fun to do something outside of your comfort zone and something that’s good for the school,” Gronewold said. “At the end of the day it’s an event for charity, so the more people that come, the better for donations.”
