Staples High School has something for everyone.
Forty varsity sports. A professional-caliber drama program, and music and art departments to match. Journalism, broadcast media, environment, the “We the People” Constitution competition — if you’ve got a passion, it’s been pursued by like-minded students, with avid mentors, on the North Avenue campus.
Unless you’re a dancer.
For years, teenagers who dance have found their community elsewhere — in private academies outside of school.
Now, that niche has been filled.
The Staples dance team launched last spring. Next week they’ll have a spot at the annual Involvement Fair, reaching out to students eager to make dance a part of their school lives.
The Staples dance team is for serious dancers, who often spend so much time in the studio that they miss out on school spirit.
It’s also for those who used to dance, but stepped away.
And for anyone else who loves dance, and wants to learn new styles.
The vision took shape last school year, when Alina Knapp — then a Bedford Middle School 8th grader — talked with interested classmates, in a variety of forms: tap, ballet, jazz, contemporary, lyrical and hip hop. Staples, she learned, had 3 dance clubs.
But no dance team.
She teamed up with fellow Bedford dancer Mirabelle Choe.
Soon, then-freshmen Katie Brill, Sutton Bulkeley and Caitlin Hand led an effort to become an official Staples club.
Staples dance team coach Mikela Pirri
Mikela Pirri — a Sacred Heart University alumnus with competitive dance experience — joined as coach.
The Staples dance team will blend performance (at games and pep rallies) and competition, with both jazz and hip hop squads. The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) — which governs all public school sports in the state — also sanctions competitive dance.
Staples was one of the few schools in the area without a dance team. Fairfield Ludlowe and Warde, Norwalk and Stamford Highs all have teams. Ridgefield is the reigning state hip hop champion.
Like Staples sports, Players, Orphenians, Inklings, WWPT and so much more, the dance team emphasizes camaraderie, school spirit and inclusiveness.
“Dance is about working together, supporting each other, and connecting through movement,” says junior co-captain Nina Ghahremani. “Now we get to do that through Staples.”
Staples dance team. Back row (from left): Caitlin Hand, Sutton Bulkeley, Katie Brill, Mirabelle Choe, Alina Knapp. Front: Chloe Jordan, Nina Ghahremani. Boys are welcome too!
“Senior co-captain Chloe Jordan adds, “We look forward not only to dancing together as a team, but also setting a standard of passion and kindness within our community.”
And they’ll do it — finally — on their own high school campus.
(For more information, follow the team on Instagram: @StaplesDance.)
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