For the first time since 2009, the junior class has defeated the senior class and won the 2014 Spirit Week dance competition. The sophomores placed third, while the freshman class finished fourth.

This year’s Spirit Week theme of “movie genres” was implemented into each class’s dance in some very humorous and creative ways. The freshmen were the first to present their dance, which was themed after fantasy movies.

“We used songs that have to do with magic because our theme is fantasy,” said freshman class choreographer Jordan Tort (’18), “[these include] songs like ‘Magic’ by B.o.B. and ‘Dark Horse’ by Katy Perry, along with songs from the actual movies.”

While only 40 kids participated in the freshman dance, this did not prevent the freshmen from performing admirably in their first Spirit Week dance. The dance began with a monologue from the movie Alice in Wonderland, before the mix transitioned to other movie songs like the Harry Potter theme and “The Yellow Brick Road” from The Wizard of Oz. The group ended its dance to Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse.”

Next, the sophomores put on a show with their dance, themed after musicals.

“The sophomore dance includes a number of musical songs – everything from Footloose to High School Musical,” said one of the sophomore class choreographers Sofia Benedetto (’17). “We [worked] really hard to piece everything together today.”

The sophomores’ dance had more than 50 people in it. The group, dressed in all red, prefaced its dance with an orchestral performance of “Castle on a Cloud” from Les Miserables by eight students. The creative opening transitioned into a myriad of different songs and dances representative of some of the best musicals ever made, such as “Dancing Queen” from Mama Mia and “Greased Lightning” from Grease.

After, the juniors continued with a thrilling dance to their theme of action/adventure movies. The class had 83 people participate in the dance.

“The dance has a lot of different theme songs from movies like Jaws or Pirates of the Caribbean. We also included different songs to [represent] other movies like the Hunger Games, [such as] “Girl on Fire” by Alicia Keys,” said Charlotte Montgomery (’16), one of the primary choreographers for the junior class dance along with Emily Mosgowsky (’16).

The adventure that was the juniors’ Spirit Week dance included themes from classic action movies like Jumanji and Indiana Jones. The group appeared extremely well prepared, as the dance itself was done cohesively and everyone knew what they were doing and when. The dance took an unexpected turn when junior class advisor Mr. Greg Gagliardi transformed into Clark Kent, and soon later Superman himself to beat up super villains with his killer dance moves. Finally, the dance culminated as the unit formed an “X” when the Iron Man theme came on, moving completely in unison.

Lastly, the animation-themed seniors had a stellar dance as well, but unfortunately fell short of the determined juniors. Despite their loss, the class had the biggest turn-out, with over 100 people participating in the dance.

“For our dance we chose a lot of throwbacks to go with our theme [of animated movies] because we’re 90’s babies,” said senior choreographer Dayna Wachman (’15), “so we chose a lot of throwbacks so that the crowd [would] recognize much of the music in our mix.”

The senior dance included classic animated movie songs such as “Hakuna Matata” and “Can’t Wait to be King” from The Lion King and “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid. In the middle of the dance, the group spoofed the popular Nicki Minaj song “Anaconda,” which received a fair share of laughter. The group came together in the end to spell out “2015” and tossed paper graduation caps to “Let It Go” from the recent hit film Frozen.

Though all classes put on noteworthy performances, the junior class emerged on top in this year’s Spirit Week Dance Competition.