St. John Neumann Regional hosts dance party

St. John Neumann Regional School students capped off their Catholic Schools Week with a party featuring an ice cream social, ’50s sock-hop tunes and a synchronized dance competition on Friday.

“Today, we are celebrating the final day of Catholic Schools Week,” fourth-grade teacher Mary Comensky said.

“We’ve had a week of activities that focused on our superpowers as superheroes, so today we’re wrapping up our whole week by celebrating what makes each of us unique. We’re having a dance party for the students, and we just had an ice cream social to celebrate all the good things that go on here at Catholic schools.”

Teachers loaded up bowls with plenty of tasty treats at the ice cream bar before the students busted out some sweet moves on the dance floor.

“I got vanilla ice cream with jam, sprinkles, cherries, whipped cream and marshmallows,” fourth-grader Colleen Gilsbach said. “I liked the moves I do at the end of the dance. It’s a special move.”

Classic rock hits from the ’50s and ’60s filled the room as kids in superhero costumes hopped around the gym, with the occasional conga line weaving throughout the crowd every now and again. Looking around the room, you could spot a Mr. Incredible cutting a rug with some pals, or a young lady in a poodle skirt bopping around with Wonder Woman.

“We were dancing after the ice cream party, and we got to dance however we wanted to,” said fifth-grader Delaney Erickson, sporting a Superman outfit.

After the room was straightened up a bit, music teacher Brad Cressley took to the floor to lead the kids in the National School Choice Week 2018 dance, set to Meghan Trainor’s “Better When I’m Dancin’.”

“They want different schools to do the same dance, and they want them to post it to the internet so people can see the different schools doing this,” Cressley said. “They post the instructions on YouTube, and they encourage schools to learn and perform the dance, post it to the internet, and show their school pride.”

Lined up by grade level, each student sported a yellow scarf that was whipped about at the end of the dance routine. Keeping up with the steps was a bit of a challenge, but the kids managed to pull it off with just a little bit of practice.

“I think they did a great job. It wasn’t an easy dance to teach, especially when we’re doing it with kindergarten, first- and second-graders, as well as the older kids in fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth. I think they did a pretty good job.”

Judging by the enthusiastic dancers and their well-choreographed moves, the St. John Neumann’s students have a great chance at taking the title of best dancers.

“With the yellow scarf challenge, I thought we did good. I liked the scarves, and I thought that it was a cool challenge. I hope that we’re going to win it,” third-grader Riley Lawless said.