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Molly StantonStaff Writer

The Stamford all-school musi-cal production Hairspray opened on December 3. The Broadway mu-sical is set in Baltimore in the ’60s and explores the issue of integra-tion by following a teenage girl’s journey through her dream to be on a local dance television show. The show was put on by the Stamford Public Schools with pro-ducers Nancy Freedman and Andy George and director Debra Failla. The cast and stage crew were made up of students ranging from grades four through 12. There were over 100 students in the show and over 20 different Stamford public schools were represented. The performance was fabulous and as much fun to watch as it was to listen to. Many Westhill students were part of the production. Sophomore Zoe DePreta played the lead role of Tracy Turnblad. Her portrayal of this spunky teen following her dreams and doing what is right was heartfelt and captivated the audience. Her voice shone during her many musical numbers, par-ticularly, “I Can Hear the Bells” and “Good Morning Baltimore.”

DePreta was very pleased with the opening performance as a whole. She said, “I think it went really well. The cast was really proud of the outcome considering the hard work we put into it.” Juniors Miiko Valkonen and Skyler Ross played married couple Edna and Wilbur Turnblad. They are both extremely talented and together provided for some of the most humorous parts of the show. Their second act performance of the song “Timeless to Me” was one of the highlights of the play and certainly a crowd pleaser. Valkonen said, “The show on Fri-day went really, really well. I’ve never felt so good about a show before. It blew my mind.” Senior Ahshilah Atkins also blew the crowd away with her representation of Motormouth Maybelle, especially with her powerful performances of songs “Big Blonde and Beautiful” and “I Know Where I’ve Been.” Another stand out performer was Stamford High senior Sean Ormond. He took on the role of Link Larkin, the heartthrob and love interest of Tracy. His charis-ma and stage presence as well as pure talent in singing and acting

were all strong contributions to the performance as a whole. AITE senior Dijon White was also talented, memorable, and an enormous asset to the production. He played the part of Seaweed J. Stubbs. His dance skills were unbelievable. All the dance numbers, for that matter, were extremely well done. Westhill senior Jainee DiDonato was the assistant choreographer, and her choreography was one of the most appealing aspects of the show. “It was really great being the assistant choreographer this year because I got to work with our choreographer, who worked on Broadway,” DiDonato said. Overall, the production was outstanding, thanks to many su-perb individual performances and the entire cast and crew’s hard work. The audience was pleased and in the end gave a well-de-served standing ovation. “I think the play was really good, especial-ly for having all the different age groups. They put it together really well,” senior Danielle Mizrachi said. There was another show on Saturday, December 4, and then two more the following weekend, on of December 10 and 11.

Kadian DaleyStaff Writer

What is step? “It’s an alterna-tive dance,” junior Lady Vikes step team co-captain Cynthia Charles said. Charles has been a part of the step team since her freshman year of high school.

The step team has been prac-ticing and performing for eight years and performs at every boys’ basketball game.

The idea of a school step team was brought to the attention of Dean of Students Ms. Obas in 2003 by a student named Kadia Jillette. “Kadia approached me and explained there was not a lot of things young girls could do after school at the time,” Ms. Obas said. Ms. Obas “did not know the first thing about step,” but she enjoyed the art of it. The club was proposed to Principal Ms. Fi-gluizzi and was later approved.

The girls then decided that step should be more of a team than

a club. “We wanted to go by the [academic] rules of the FCIAC. We make sure the girls are on top of their academics and have the right GPA,” Ms. Obas said.

Ms. Obas’ goal for the step team is “to bring home a trophy; it’s been two years,” she said.

Besides performing at basket-ball games, which is considered practice for the girls, they com-pete in many competitions in New York since step isn’t common in Connecticut. Some of the compe-titions the team has participated in were held at Dewitt Clinton High School, Walton High, Co-lumbus High, and Truman High. Each event has eight to 12 teams competing. The girls did not com-pete last year but in the past have brought home first, second, and third place trophies. “[The compe-titions] are intense, usually 20 to 30 teams compete,” Charles said.

Senior Miriam Clement and senior co-captain Anna Kay

Cooper have both been on the step team since their freshman year. The girls were introduced to Westhill step when they saw flyers in the school hallways. Clement and Cooper would like to continue step after they gradu-ate and go to college but express that they might not be able to due to time commitment.

“I usually was a quiet person growing up. Step really helped me open up to other things and other people [by] just being able to ex-press myself,” Clement said. She is hoping to go to Southern Con-necticut State University to get her nursing degree. The girls ex-pressed that they will miss their high school step team a great deal.

Cooper’s hopes for the team are for them to “learn as many drills as possible and that the drills they do learn are clean, pre-cise, [and] efficient, so that when we perform them we can execute them well.”

Review: All-school musical Hairspray impresses audiences

Lady Vikes stomp out competition

Elissa Miolene / Photo ManagerSTEPPING IT UP The Lady Vikes step team practices its routine in the cafeteria in preparation for its next performance.

Karen McArthur / Contributed PhotoTHE BIG DOLLHOUSE Hairspray actors stunned audiences across Stamford with their energy, enthusiasm, and talent.

You can’t stop the beat