The Royalettes enchant the audience

On Thursday, April 1, the Royalettes Dance Team performed their showcase, The Enchanting, at 6:30 p.m. to highlight their versatility as a team and pass on the torch from the graduating president to the newly designated leaders.

Calaysia Fullwood, Royalette vice president and sophomore nursing major, emphasized the hard work put in by the team and the goals of the showcase.

“We had a lot of practice,” Fullwood said. “We started with tryouts, then we had to request spaces, then we had to choose a music list and then pick between solos and different groups. It was a lot of preparation.”

The Royalettes wanted to highlight all their skills and talents as dancers and also incorporate several dance styles into their performance.

“It was mostly to show that we were very versatile,” Fullwood said. “When most people think of dance, they think of hip-hop or ballet, but we did majorette, we did hip-hop, we did lyrical; also, we had cheer and step.”

All the individual and group performances within the showcase incorporated these styles and helped convey their skills as dancers. Each member had different roles designated by the president and other leaders for the team.

Trischen Byrd, Royalette president and senior history major, was mostly in charge of the creation of the showcase and the delegation of roles within the performance.

“It was a hard process,” Byrd said. “I started planning for this show way before we had tryouts. I initially met with Calaysia and my captain, Kiara. I started talking to them about the show and any ideas they had. The main part of the show came from after we had tryouts when I got to know all of the girls on the team.”

Byrd had to use the months of practice and preparation to create a lineup of performances that would help utilize each dancer.

“None of this would have happened if it were not for the president; she really put everything together,” Fullwood said.

The event was hosted by Malcom Armstrong, sophomore engineering major, a friend to the Royalettes and a member of the Campus Activities Board (CAB).

“They asked me, ‘Do you want to host the showcase?’ and I was like, ‘Sure,’” Armstrong said. “I came up with stuff on the fly. When you freestyle things, it is a journey. You never know how it will go. I feel like that is the most fun adventure in the world.”

Armstrong was able to incorporate many interactive competitions and a rap performance into the showcase between dance numbers. Despite COVID-19 hindering many activities in 2020 and 2021, the showcase was able to persevere through proactivity in planning and adhering to guidelines.

“The turnout was successful even though we had restrictions and parameters around what we did,” Armstrong said. “I feel like the event was a success.”

The Royalettes closed their showcase with some final words from Byrd and new designations for leadership of the dance group.

“I am graduating in the fall, but I passed on the torch so they can know things for when I am actually gone,” Byrd said. “I am going to be teaching them, making sure they have the same resources I was able to give them while I was here.”

The Royalettes will host another tryout in the fall of 2021. Follow their Instagram page, @theroyalettes2020, and the Student Life Office for details on upcoming performances.