Musical-Extravaganza (MEX) events were moved from the field to inside the gym due to inclement weather conditions for Jefferson students on Friday, Sept. 27, which caused classes to cut their dancers from the overall performance, and change their dance to fit a new setting.
With MEX originally being planned for an outdoor setting on the football field the indoor switch brought upon different limitations such as roster changes, two pep rally performances, and preparations to perform in a smaller space in Gym 1. Lots of concerns circulated around the roster limit of 50 dancers as multiple classes faced issues in cutting dancers out for performances.
Junior MEX organized dancers based on the pep rally they were assigned to attend, with some dancers being needed for both rallies.
“We tried our best to have people be dancers in the block they were attending,” junior choreographer Annie Chiu said. “If people were coming to the first pep rally, we tried to have them dance for that one. Some didn’t fully work out, though, [and] we had some dancers be at the first pep rally but attend the second one. Overall, things worked out.”
Senior MEX choreographer Olaa Elgamri shared concerns regarding the original outdoor MEX plan and how the turf outside would affect their dance and costume plans.
“I originally wanted it to be inside because I didn’t like dancing on the turf,” Elgamri said. “We decided to wear white and part of the choreography was to get on the floor. We didn’t want to do that outside.”
Sophomore class council secretary and choreographer Grace Yuan believed that cutting dancers wasn’t much of an issue.
“I don’t think [cutting dancers] affected our MEX performance that much since we didn’t have an excessive amount of dancers to make that a problem,” Yuan said. “I personally prefer the pep rallies inside compared to outside because you can see everyone much closer in the gym, and the singing and chants feel louder. ”
Multiple solutions were found to solve the issue of the pep rallies moving inside. Chiu acknowledged the hard work put in for a successful performance.
“Our class council and the other choreographers on our team worked so hard to make each other feel supported in what we do,” Chiu said.