Sapphires shine on live television

The Sapphires were handed the news that they were selected to perform in the 2017 Tournament of Roses parade by Jeffery Giles, the founder and owner of HTE Dance, back in May of 2016.

“When I found out we had this opportunity to go perform in the Rose Bowl Parade, I was surprised and anxious to see how it was going to turn out,”  sophomore Shelby Horne said.

The Sapphires performed with four other Texas high school drill teams.

The preparation for the opening act started back in November of 2016. The Sapphires, along with the HTE staff and opening act participants, were involved in a 14 hour practice where they learned the choreography and got a feel for how it was going to be in California.

“Preparation was pretty intense,” Sapphire Director Brittany Miller said. “The choreography kept changing, and they were expected to adapt on the fly.”

All of the teams were expected to practice the choreography at their own personal practices.

The Sapphires were off to the big city of Los Angeles Dec. 29, 2016. The members of the opening act had numerous early morning practices and even a 13 hour rehearsal with the Santa Clara Vanguard, the flag team also be performed in the opening act. Outside of the practices, the contributors were required to practice on their own to make sure that the choreography was solid.

“The preparation for the parade was definitely not easy. It was a lot planning, changing choreography multiple times, trying on costumes, and of course dancing full out in the cold rain. Towards the end of the trip, everyone was so tired and sore, but we lived off pure adrenaline and coffee,” senior Lieutenant Lexy Rel said.

But it wasn’t all work and practices. The Sapphires found time in their schedule to see the sights in and around Los Angeles, including, going to Santa Monica Beach and Universal Studios.

The day of the parade started at 1:15 in the morning, where all the participants had to be ready, in costume and makeup to go to dress rehearsal. From there, they had a two hour rehearsal at the parade site. Television stations were already there getting set up for the day’s performance, including NBC, ABC and HGTV.  Al Roker from NBC’s The Today Show tweeted a video featuring the Sapphires and: Here’s a preview of the opening of the 128th Rose Parade. These folks rehearsing at 4:30 a.m. PT.

The Tournament of Roses parade started at 10 a.m. The Sapphires, along with the opening act participants, got set in their first positions and waited for the music to start.

“I was excited to see how many people were watching us and anxious at the same time because we were watched by millions,” Horne said.

The music started and the Sapphires knew exactly what to do. Soon all the hard work paid off.

“My nerves were all over the place, but I just smiled through,” sophomore Haylee Elmore said.

The performance had over 250 performers and a multicolored rose float. On top of the float was none other than NBC’s Hairspray Live’s trio including Shayna Steele, Kamilah Marshall and Judine Somerville who sang throughout the parade.

After the performance, the opening participants made their way through the streets of Pasadena. Marching with their bouquet of roses in one hand and waving to fans lined up on the sidewalk with the other hand.

“When I saw little girls waving at us, it made me feel really special and it made me very happy to be there,” Elmore said.

After walking the parade route, which was a long 5.1 miles, The Sapphires made it to the end of the parade.

“It was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” senior Bailey Swinney said, “I’m glad I was able to perform in it.”