York College dance students are set for a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to cheerlead at the Miami Dolphins’ American football game this Thanksgiving weekend.
The group of performance and production learners will fly out on Wednesday, ahead of the Dolphins’ National Football League (NFL) fixture against the New Orleans Saints four days later.
Advertisement
They will perform at the 65,000-capacity Hard Rock Stadium, which has hosted six Super Bowls (Image: York College)
They will perform at the 65,000-capacity Hard Rock Stadium, which has hosted six Super Bowls and will be a venue for football games at next year’s World Cup finals.
The Sim Balk Lane students will follow in the footsteps of global superstars such as Taylor Swift, The Rolling Stones, Beyoncé, and Coldplay, who have all performed at the venue.
Advertisement
The Sim Balk Lane students will follow in the footsteps of global superstars such as Taylor Swift, The Rolling Stones, Beyoncé, and Coldplay (Image: York College)
Steph Rastinis, one of the dance and musical theatre students, said: “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to go over there with my friends, and do something I love at such a big venue.”
Another member of the group, Abi Armstrong, said: “I haven’t been dancing for that long, so the chance to dance in Miami is really exciting.”
Advertisement
The performance will be at the Dolphins’ National Football League (NFL) fixture against the New Orleans Saints (Image: York College)
The group was initially invited to cheerlead alongside students from US schools during the game’s halftime interval.
However, the York scholars impressed the producers during rehearsals and have been asked to perform in the primetime slot before kick-off instead.
The switch from a halftime performance to a pre-match show has increased the group’s workload (Image: York College)
Advertisement
In recent years, York College’s performance and production students have also joined Craig David on stage and danced at the Silverstone Formula 1 Grand Prix.
The switch from a halftime performance to a pre-match show has increased the group’s workload, as they need to learn three complex routines in just a few hours.
The Hard Rock Stadium, which has hosted six Super Bowls, will also be a venue for football games at next year’s World Cup finals (Image: York College)
Advertisement
Hip-hop choreographer Owen Malone, who has been preparing the students for Miami alongside tutor Emma Fawcett, said: “The dancers’ pick-up, in terms of how fast they learn, has been unbelievable.”
Ava Auton said that their tutor has given them the assurance that they have the skills and mentality to perform at such a large-scale event.
She said: “With Emma, she’s always so calm and that makes me feel a lot better because, if she was stressing, we’d be stressing too.”