Saturday, September 7, 2024
Denali Rubio leads the Emerald Dazzlers as captain.
Alyssa Harris orders supplies for exchange students.
Crystal Martinez, director of the Dazzlers, instructs the team on form.
From left, Emma Lolli and Mariska van der Woude show off their new uniforms.
Ryllon Farmer serves as a lieutenant.
From left, Aideen Leclair, Andrea Aguilar, Serenity Young, Mariska van der Woude, Emma Lolli, and Kaylyn Sellers wait to step onto the field.
From left, Londyn Beaver and Grace Moran perform at a recent halftime show.
AZLE — The temperature in Berlin, Germany, was mid-70s when Mariska van der Woude boarded an airplane headed for the United States in early August.
When her plane touched down at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, van der Woude stepped into a 100-degree Texas scorcher.
The heat blast made her woozy for a moment.
“My body had to get used to the temperature,” she said.
Acclimation didn’t take long. She has embraced many new things since arriving as a foreign exchange student at Azle High School. She settled in with a host family, signed up for classes, and joined the Emerald Dazzlers dance troupe that performs during football games at Hornet Stadium.
“I could have ended up in any state in the U.S., but my host family lives here in Azle, and I really like it here,” she said. “I like the school spirit and the whole new school system. I really like being on the Dazzlers team. Everyone’s nice.”
She is one of three foreign exchange students who made the roster. The others are Emma Lolli from Italy and Rawan Lashin from Egypt.
“I love it here,” Lolli said. “I love school. I love the subjects, the teachers, and the people. They are so nice and sweet. And I love my host family. I’m having a great time.”
She arrived on Aug. 5, and her new surroundings weren’t so different from her home in Italy.
“I knew Azle was a small town, and I live in small town” near Bologna, she said.
The visitors plan to stay for almost a year, and they appreciate the homey feel of Azle and its proximity to interesting places nearby.
“I like that it’s near a big city — Fort Worth,” van der Woude said. “I was excited because I knew there was a lake nearby and some nature, too.”
The exchange students are adding their talents to a youthful Dazzlers roster embarking on a stage of growth and learning. The dancers are “constantly working hard to improve dance skills and performance qualities,” said director Crystal Martinez.
Leading the team is captain Denali Rubio, a junior.
“Denali Rubio is doing a phenomenal job as captain, performer, and leader, especially with only being a junior,” Martinez said. “She and her fellow officers do a great job of leading the team.”
Rubio auditioned for captain after serving as a lieutenant during her sophomore season.
“I like being a role model for others,” Rubio said. “It makes me happy.”
Putting on choreographed shows to impress spectators for a few minutes requires many hours of grinding away in obscurity. The team practices three times a week, two hours at a time, in a mirror-walled rehearsal room. The girls practice on their own at home.
“The team is doing really good,” Rubio said. “We’ve improved a lot since this summer.”
Teammates such as lieutenant Ryllon Farmer help instruct dancers and lead by example — arriving at practices on time, eager to learn and unafraid to sweat. Farmer takes her position seriously.
“I’m here to push the team harder, help with things that people may need work on, be a leader of the group, and strive for others to do their best every day,” she said. “I really enjoy everyone being one big family. I enjoy everyone wanting to strive to do their best and coming together to do something that we all love and perform together as one.”
It takes a be-sparkled village to raise a dance troupe, and a vital cog in the troupe is Alyssa Harris. The sophomore is one of three managers. During a recent practice, she sat on the floor at the rehearsal hall helping the foreign exchange students fill out paperwork.
“They don’t have everything,” Harris said. “We need to order them more stuff, things like backpacks, jersey bags, poms, anything like that. This is their first-time experience for drill team.”
Harris does her part by showing up for practices, taking notes, retrieving supplies, and assisting Martinez and the girls.
“I help the director with anything she needs,” Harris said. “I really like the team. I love the veterans because I know them from last year. Also, the new people coming in and learning everything, I love seeing them grow from the beginning of the year.”
The Emerald Dazzlers will perform at a homefield halftime show during the next Azle Hornets football game at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 29, at Hornet Stadium.
