As her senior project, Lina Rickels, a three year Hip-Hop team member, prepared a dance showcase that took four months to prepare and was put on May 2, bringing viewers from all around the area to the MTHS Theater.

“The Hip-Hop Team wanted a showcase and I thought, ‘Why not? I’ll try it out,’” Rickels explained as to why she chose to make the Spread Your Wings and Dance Showcase her senior project.

Many groups took the stage that night, including Kontagious, The Bad Kids, Dance Elite & Music, Bishop Blanchet High School Dance Team and MTHS’ very own Hip-Hop Team and Breakers.

Rickels was able to gather these groups for the showcase with the help of co-captain of the Hip-Hop Team, sophomore Jannon Roque, and her mentor, Gabriella Van de Heuvel.

Rickels warmed up the crowd by introducing the MTHS Hip-Hop team. They danced across the stage to a remix called “Fall for My Love,” choreographed by freshman Bryson Bruno and junior Joscelyn Princesa, who is a supporter of the team.

The Bad Kids took the stage next and performed to the remix, “Bad Girls.” During their routine, they included many references to the comedy movie Mean Girls. Despite their name, the Bad Kids’ performance wasn’t bad at all.

Afterwards, Dance Elite & Music, a Lynnwood Dance Team, performed to “Hands in the Air.” This song choice kept the dancers moving and the audience waving their hands in the air for more.

Amidst the dancers’ performances, six singing acts wowed the crowd, all close friends of Rickels that didn’t hesitate to help her out for her senior project.

The first singer, sophomore Jaira Arcilla, sang “Love Song” by Sara Bareilles. From the time she stepped onto the stage to when she trailed off at the end of her song, supportive cheers of her name exploded across the auditorium.

After Arcilla exited the stage, The Bad Kids returned with a new wardrobe to fit their remix choice, “HQ.”

The dancing continued with “Bad Guls,” performed by Bishop Blanchet High School’s Dance Team.

As Bishop Blanchet left the stage, seniors Michelle Schomer and Kyra Dahlman took over as the second singing act of the night. Schomer sang “Bleeding Out” by Imagine Dragons with Dahlman as her right-hand man on guitar. The duo calmed the crowd with a slow song.

The female side of Kontagious went on stage for the first time of the night to dance to “Femme Work.” The women of the group infected the crowd with their excitement and charisma.

Senior Aleena Wolfe was next up to sing a personalized version of “Titanium” by David Guetta featuring Sia. She brought the quick paced song to a slow, steady beat.

MTHS Dance Team closed the first half of the night with their routine to “Bounce 2 Step,” a fun remix that kept the crowd entertained. The routine was choreographed by junior co-captain, Erick Yanzon.

“I was proud of my team, too, ‘cause they worked really hard,” said Rickels. “They’re my family over there.”

After intermission, the MTHS Breakers introduced the second half of the night with their routine for “Baby, Hit the Beat.” The crowd broke out into applause after their dizzying yet entrancing performance.

Rickels and Yanzon followed, singing an altered version of “When I Was Your Man” by Bruno Mars. They tweaked the song to make it a duet, so they could take the stage together.

Once again, Kontagious came onstage to dance to a remix entitled “Majorly Pop, Drop and Roll Your Body.”

The MTHS Dance Team was back on their home stage to perform “Feel My Love,” choreographed by Rickels.

Wolfe made a second appearance on stage to sing another slow song, “You and Me” by Lifehouse.

Succeeding Wolfe, three ballerinas around the age of twelve came to the stage with a bench, which they incorporated into their ballet performance, a piece of art they had been preparing since Jan.

“We thought it was a good idea to have a different style come into our showcase, not just hip-hop and break, like we want different combinations,” said Rickels.

Next was Kontagious. They danced to multiple songs by Macklemore, and the audience couldn’t help but bob their heads to the familiar beat.

Yanzon, the last singing act of the night, performed “When There Was Me and You” from High School Musical. With no music keeping him on beat, he showed off his precision to the crowd.

The MTHS Dance Team hopped onstage for the final act of the night, dancing to “Heartbreak.” Roque choreographed the routine, and framed it to tell the story of a boy that cheated on his girlfriend, and hearts were breaking in the audience as they watched the story unfold.

Before the night drew to a close, Rickels presented bouquets of flowers to dance team coach Ashley Johnson and her senior project mentor Van de Heuvel as thanks for all their help in making the showcase happen.

The most worrisome aspect of the night for Rickels was that there would be problems backstage. “I thought we would have technical difficulties and the lights would start binking or the music, they would play the wrong song,” Rickels said.

In the end, Rickels had nothing to worry about because everything went according to plan.

“It went really well because we had tech rehearsal beforehand, so it really helped a lot because we messed up on who was performing what song and everything,” Rickels said.

The showcase tickets and snack bar raised $642, but after paying all the helpers of the night, Rickels was left with $300 that she donated to the Hip-Hop Team for a new sound system.

The team was invited to perform at two more shows before the end of the year: one at the WesCo Leadership Conference on May 17, and the other at the Bishop Blanchet High School Showcase on May 22 that students are allowed to view.

The team is expecting to hold tryouts at the beginning of the next school year to complete their competitive team.. They intend to have cmpetitions with other schools throughout the year.