This picture below was taken February 11, 2011 approximately three minutes before the Super Bowl halftime show. The Anna High School Coyettes were at the head of the long line of teams that would soon be a part of the performance of a lifetime. As the Coyettes were waiting to run out into a stadium full of Packers and Steelers fans and in front of the world, I remember thinking "how in the world did we get this opportunity?"
Here is an account of the experience:
It was January 24th around 3:15 and I got a call from one of the iconic names in the drill team industry by the name of Joyce Pennington, CEO of American Dance/Drill Team. I won't ever forget where I was and I'll never forget the conversation. I was in the old Anna High School library, I answered the phone and Joyce said "hey Emily, we have been asked to be in charge of finding dancers from around the area to dance in the Super Bowl halftime show and we need to fill about 15-16 more holes, would you be interested in bringing your team and if so, you need to make sure it's ok with your school district and transportation." Ummm...yeah I'm interested! After that I told administration and then called a special meeting to announce to all Coyettes that they would be dancing along side the Black-eyed Peas. A couple of girls asked "is this a joke?" and another girl literally fell over from feeling faint at my mentioning "performance with the BEP's. Fortunately her friend caught her!
After a few local practices, we headed to AT&T stadium for the first BIG practice on the field. I remember walking behind the Coyettes who were all linked arm and arm as they stepped onto the green turf. More squealing! The practices from here on out at the BIG stadium were led by professionals...we are talking an array of hand-selected professional theatrical and technical directors, producers, dancers from around the nation as well as the BEPs choreographer, Fatima Robinson. During rehearsals, there were hardly any breaks and every run through was full out. If a person sat out or got sick and didn't show, they couldn't perform. The show must go on! If dancers didn't complete movements full out, they were called out. This was one of my favorite parts of the experience because the students were being pushed and they couldn't make excuses. They were rehearsing at a professional level. I have always said that because of this rehearsal experience, the practices the rest of the year changed. (This team went on to win two National Awards at contest two months later!)
Pictured above: UTA campus so we could wait & watch the pregame activities; line of buses w/traffic stopped & the Coyettes in awe because we had had a police escort to the stadium
As we arrived into the stadium parking lot, we saw the US military aircraft fly over which meant pre-show had just finished and the game was about to begin. It took us about another 30 minutes to get checked in and then we stood outside in the cold and waited for a while.
Pictured above: Flyover as we drove in; Coyettes waiting in the cold for our turn to enter the stadium tunnels
Pictured left: Me at the back of the 35
On the way home, we stopped at McDonalds to get dinner and talked about the experience. We then headed home where I'm sure stories were told and recordings of the show were watched. It was not your typical Sunday night, but when Monday rolled around, we were back to normal and in classes like nothing ever happened--except it did! Even though reality hit, the Anna High School Coyettes of 2011 ever since that very special event, have and will always have that bond that no other team can say that they have. Well...except for the other teams that were there.
Watch the performance here: http://youtu.be/xPIiaSnYV5E
Camp
Here is an account of the experience:
It was January 24th around 3:15 and I got a call from one of the iconic names in the drill team industry by the name of Joyce Pennington, CEO of American Dance/Drill Team. I won't ever forget where I was and I'll never forget the conversation. I was in the old Anna High School library, I answered the phone and Joyce said "hey Emily, we have been asked to be in charge of finding dancers from around the area to dance in the Super Bowl halftime show and we need to fill about 15-16 more holes, would you be interested in bringing your team and if so, you need to make sure it's ok with your school district and transportation." Ummm...yeah I'm interested! After that I told administration and then called a special meeting to announce to all Coyettes that they would be dancing along side the Black-eyed Peas. A couple of girls asked "is this a joke?" and another girl literally fell over from feeling faint at my mentioning "performance with the BEP's. Fortunately her friend caught her!
Pictured Left: Official email from Super Bowl Casting right before the frenzy!
After that meeting, all the events happened very quickly. The Super Bowl foggy euphoria had begun! A quick email from the Super Bowl XLV casting, a registration, many permission forms, contracts, sizing charts had to be signed and completed within hours.
The "secret" choreography videos were sent to me and all Coyettes who would participate had to be at mandatory practices in my English classroom to learn the routines within 24 hours. We had no dance studio at the time. We just pushed all of the regular desks to the side, opened up the link, and began learning. My drill team officers stayed up at the school with me until late in the night. We had to get the choreography learned quickly if we were going to pull this off! The next morning and early afternoon, the drill team learned and practiced the new choreography. Yup, I had to get a bus and field trip request very quickly because the first of several major "secret" big group practices would take place that very same afternoon.
During this first big practice, with about 835 other dancers, we learned that Usher and Slash would be the surprise performers who would join the BEPs on stage. I'll never forget the squeals that came from all of the teenage girls when they heard this news.
After a few local practices, we headed to AT&T stadium for the first BIG practice on the field. I remember walking behind the Coyettes who were all linked arm and arm as they stepped onto the green turf. More squealing! The practices from here on out at the BIG stadium were led by professionals...we are talking an array of hand-selected professional theatrical and technical directors, producers, dancers from around the nation as well as the BEPs choreographer, Fatima Robinson. During rehearsals, there were hardly any breaks and every run through was full out. If a person sat out or got sick and didn't show, they couldn't perform. The show must go on! If dancers didn't complete movements full out, they were called out. This was one of my favorite parts of the experience because the students were being pushed and they couldn't make excuses. They were rehearsing at a professional level. I have always said that because of this rehearsal experience, the practices the rest of the year changed. (This team went on to win two National Awards at contest two months later!)
Not only were the rehearsals challenging, but then came the crazy snow and ice storm! Because of this, I felt like I was on call 24/7 getting email updates or calls from the halftime show staff. We are talking last minute decisions right and left which I then had to relay to my team and their parents immediately. In normal cases, parents and students would've been upset at the last minute calls or emails sent from their director at 2am. However, no one cared and I certainly did not mind doing the extra work because this was an extra special opportunity of a lifetime.
Pictured above: Coyettes up at school on a snow day waiting to hear from Super Bowl Casting
While all kids in Anna ISD and all other local schools were staying home because school had been cancelled, the Coyettes and I were going up to school, waiting for news if the big rehearsals were still happening, practicing the routines on our own, oh and making snow angels behind the school! The roads were so bad that all of the school buses, for most of the participating districts, opted out of transporting the dancers to Arlington because of liability issues. At one point, the Super Bowl staff decided that they would rent buses to pick up students, but that would mean they would have to travel as far from Arlington to Anna and to Corsicana, so this plan fell through. I remember waiting hours up at school one morning when finally, the Super Bowl staff cancelled one of the dress rehearsal practices which was supposed to take place the Thursday before the big day. They said that if ice melted, we could come the next day, but unfortunately it didn't. The Super Bowl staff sent out a message saying that if we showed up on Friday then we were still in, but if not, then we would not get to participate. So I started contacting parents telling them the news along with the news of having no transportation because of the dangers of the icy roads. Parents started stepping up and volunteering their cars. Somehow, some way, the Coyettes would get to all rehearsals safely! Oh, and bonus for the parents because they got to watch their daughters rehearse!
Pictured above: The dress rehearsal where the BEPs & Usher showed up.
When the big day came, the parents put together a small send-off. I remember someone wrote "the Coyettes are PACKED and ready the STEEL the show" on the window. I remember seeing proud parents crying as they waved to their daughters. 
Pictured above: Probably the best group of parents ever! This group of booster parents knew that what it takes to have a successful organization. Honestly, I couldn't have done it without them. We worked as a team for the students.
Once we got to Arlington, we had to check in at the UTA auditorium for security reasons and for additional practice time. There were two large screens that had media day running so we could keep up with the time and pre-Super Bowl events. Once it was close to the game start time, we loaded the bus trailing behind a rather lengthy yellow line of other school buses. Traffic literally stopped for the line and we had a police escort the entire way over to the Arlington AT&T stadium. All of the Coyettes were in awe and saying things like "OMG traffic is stopped for US!"
As we arrived into the stadium parking lot, we saw the US military aircraft fly over which meant pre-show had just finished and the game was about to begin. It took us about another 30 minutes to get checked in and then we stood outside in the cold and waited for a while.
Then we were all moved inside to where we waited again. While we were waiting, we could watch the game on the TV monitors that were hanging throughout the tunnels. There was a lot of standing around and then finally we were moved to the spot where this picture was taken.
Pictured above: Front of the line about 3-4 minutes until we moved to the field entrance. We could sort of see the players from where were standing.
We were lucky because we were in front (with our school name starting with the letter A for Anna HS) and could sort of see the field and the players. But somehow I don't think anyone was really paying attention to the score at this point with 3 minutes until the show. With every minute, they moved us closer. At about 30 seconds, they moved us right into the field entrance and people who we didn't even know started snapping pictures of us. One Coyette started crying. I asked her if she was okay, and she said that she was just so happy. The countdown started: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 and then the Anna Coyettes led half of the performers out by running very fast to their appropriate yard line.
Pictured left: Me at the back of the 35
Pictured above: Coyettes during "Where is the Love" & dancing under the jumbo tron.
Picture below: Coyettes hitting their ending position.
I ran to my spot which was back right field at the top of the 35. I had a bag a glow stick props for the girls and my phone. I snapped as many pictures as I could while enjoying the concert too. 11 minutes of pure bliss that made memories which will last a lifetime!
Pictured above: Coyettes hitting their ending position.
After the 11-12 minute performance, we all ran off of the field as fast as we could and filed into the underground tunnels. We joined other schools who had participated in the whooping and hollering and horrahs that only an adrenaline rush can cause. We then headed out with the mass crowd of other students into the cold rain and headed towards our bus. Everyone was wearing white with hoods on, so we lost a student. I, of course, went into panic mode, but she eventually found her way to the bus.
Pictured above: Right after the performance, everyone moved into tunnels & we made our way to the bus.
On the way home, we stopped at McDonalds to get dinner and talked about the experience. We then headed home where I'm sure stories were told and recordings of the show were watched. It was not your typical Sunday night, but when Monday rolled around, we were back to normal and in classes like nothing ever happened--except it did! Even though reality hit, the Anna High School Coyettes of 2011 ever since that very special event, have and will always have that bond that no other team can say that they have. Well...except for the other teams that were there.
Watch the performance here: http://youtu.be/xPIiaSnYV5E
More pictures of this fabulous year!
Pictured above: National Champions in Small Team Jazz & National Champions in Small Team Hip Hop
Pictured above: A few Coyote games
Coyettes performing at a TCU halftime; Coyettes performing at an SMU halftime
