Former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Victoria Kalina visited KO on Sept. 16, 2024, to hold an after-school workshop with the varsity football team and teach a number to seven advanced dancers for the Choreographer Showcase.
Every year, Director of Theater Kyle Reynolds works to bring in experienced dancers for the Choreographer Showcase to spend time working on flexibility and agility with the football team. This year he brought in Victoria Kalina after she moved on from the Dallas Cowboys dance team.
When Ms. Kalina arrived on campus at around 3:00 p.m., she went right into the dance studio to begin working on flexibility and strength with the football team.
Junior outside linebacker Cam Thomas thought the visit was a great bonding experience for the team and discussed what he got out of the visit. He states he gained “balance and taking impact, [important for] getting tackled and remaining on my feet, that kind of stuff.” Cam then says, “I know I used it in the game. I broke the tackle because I was able to bounce myself up after. So, I think that was very helpful.”
Mr. Reynolds said that the players had good attitudes and that even though there was some grunting due to lack of flexibility, the visit with the football players went smoothly.
After the football players concluded their time in the dance studio, it was time for freshmen Hunter James and Lilly Jacobson, sophomore Molly Palmer, juniors Jane Morris, Juliana Chipelo, and Leo Kollen, and senior Zaire Ramiz to learn their piece for the Choreographer Showcase with Ms. Kalina. Ms. Kalina requested to work with seven of the most advanced dancers that could pick up on the choreography quickly. With the Choreographer Showcase only a few months away, Mr. Reynolds also had to learn the choreography during Ms. Kalina’s visit to help the dancers rehearse before the Choreographer Showcase happens in November. The group spent four hours working on a complex, three-minute jazz piece to “Gotta Move” by Barbra Streisand. “Overall, it was really fun,” Molly said. “It was a lot of work, and the dance is very hard.”
One of Molly’s biggest takeaways was the importance of being truly dedicated to the art if you want to pursue a career in dance. She learned more about persistence and reaching for your goals from this experience. “I feel like a major takeaway from Victoria was if you want to accomplish something, you need to work hard because it’s not that simple,” Molly said. “I learned that I need to stretch more often. She made a lot of comments about how you need to be dedicated in order to improve.”
However, this was not the only time that the students had the privilege to work with Ms. Kalina on campus. “I was so surprised when Mr. Reynolds announced that Victoria was coming back on Oct. 25,” Juliana exclaimed. “It was so amazing to get to work with her again, and learn even more from such a successful and inspiring dancer!”
The program where the football team visits the dance studio had previously happened twice before the visit from Ms. Kalina. “Last year we had Brian Sims, who was one of our choreographers for the Choreographer Showcase,” Mr. Reynolds said. “He’s a professional ballet teacher in the city of Hartford. And the year before that we had Tim Hughes, who is a big Broadway performer.”
Mr. Reynolds was a crucial part in planning the visit from Ms. Kalina. Over the summer, he watched “AMERICA’S SWEETHEARTS: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders” on Netflix and saw that Ms. Kalina would not be returning to the DCC’s next season. He did a little research and found out she moved to New York City. Coincidentally, her new agent was a good friend of his.
Mr. Reynolds watches the dance budget very closely, and he decided that this was an important expense to take. “We have a theater and dance budget that I strategically plan for each year,” Mr. Reynolds said. “It’s certainly difficult to plan for big events or opportunities like Ms. Kalina on small resources, but certainly worth it for the impact that it makes for our students.”
