All photos taken by Chouaib Saidi
Dancing with the Teachers is an annual event that takes place at Malden High School, but due to remote learning from the pandemic, the event was put on pause for a few years. However this year, the Class of 2024 wanted to bring back this event that holds so much school spirit, and so, with the help of advisors Jessica Webber, Kristen Kirby, and Shannon Votaw, the event was able to make a comeback.
Dancing with the Teachers event is where students and teachers have the opportunity to come together and work hard to perform their dance routines for the students at Malden High to witness their performances.
Typically, this event would take place after school where students as well as their families would be able to come and enjoy the show. However, this year, the event took place during Joy Block. There was definitely a decrease in performances and interest compared to previous years but that did not lead to the event being any less entertaining.
This year the participation rate may have been lower, but students were more intrigued than ever, with three student-teacher performances. Christopher Giordano, a teacher who participated in the event mentioned that, “The students really chose a lot of the song selections and what the choreography was going to be like; they’re the ones who have a better grasp of what the inspiration was for any given song choice or choreography.”
This collaboration between the students and staff truly gives both participants an opportunity to gain a different perspective of each other beyond the classroom. The Class of 2024 being the hosts of this event, used this event as a major fundraiser for the junior class. However there was just something that differed from this year’s event.
“It was originally supposed to be a fundraiser but now it is a gathering event that can bring joy to people’s faces,” said Webber.
Although time was lost due to the pandemic, post-covid school schedule changes definitely helped the participants of the event with preparation. “A challenging experience was trying to balance everyone’s individual schedules and trying to get the whole group together after school on the same day because there were a lot of people.. but we were able to find some time every week…flex block was so helpful for that year,” Giordano said.
This year’s Dancing with the Teachers consisted of three performances. The first performance was “Talk that Talk” by TWICE starring two of MHS math teachers, Murphy Page and Giordano. Their performance was a balance of adorable and feisty.
The second performance was Michel-Le Meranda and the AO step team. The energy in the auditorium skyrocketed as the girls came out. The last performance was Julie Grillon with “Pink Venom” by BLACKPINK. This sassy yet complex performance was quite the way to end such a great performance from every group. Similarly to how the crowd first reacted when they came on stage, as the show came to an end the crowd erupted when Meranda and the AO step team were crowned as the winners.
