Dancers excited about San Diego show

Aurora Jaeger was a little put out.

Her mother’s dance school, the Academy of the Performing Arts, had just been invited to be part of this year’s Holiday Bowl halftime show. The chance to dance in front of thousands of people — and millions more on TV — sounded like the opportunity of a lifetime to 6-year-old Aurora.

But her mother needed more experienced dancers who could handle the show’s intense choreography.

“She wanted me to pretend she was 12. She was pretty mad. She showed me all the moves she could do,” Shoni Jaeger said, laughing.

Aurora still will get to travel to San Diego to watch her mom’s dancers at the Dec. 30 game. And Jaeger admitted her daughter wasn’t the only one who was jealous.

“You guys are lucky,” she told a few dancers recently. “I wonder if I can pass for 16.”

The directors of the halftime show called Jaeger in July to invite the Academy of the Performing Arts, which offers music as well as dance lessons, to be part of the program. The directors were searching for two representatives from each state, Jaeger said; in addition to the Evergreen school, a dance group from Billings was invited.

“I was quite shocked” when the directors called, Jaeger said.

She invited 16 girls, ages 12 and older, to be part of the show, nine of whom are going. The invitations went to intermediate-level dancers “who I thought could handle it,” Jaeger said. “I wanted to be able to have kids that can move.”

Not all of them are kids. Emilee Croteau, 21, didn’t receive her invitation until a month after Jaeger sent it: She had recently married and was gone on her honeymoon.

When she finally got her mail, Croteau had to reread the letter to be sure she had understood correctly.

“God is so good. This is awesome,” Croteau recalled thinking when the invitation finally sank in. “I felt very honored, definitely.”

Jemma Morrow, an 18-year-old senior at Flathead High School, was one of the dancers who received an invitation. She has been dancing for 14 years, 13 of them at the academy.

“I’m pretty excited,” she said. “I’ve never been able to dance in a football stadium or with big-name choreographers.”

Among those big names is Michael Schwandt, who has choreographed for big names including Lady Gaga, Kelly Rowland and Sheryl Crow. He will lead the dancers in rehearsals in the days before the game.

The Kalispell dancers will fly to San Diego on Christmas Day or the day after to take part in rehearsals with the whole halftime troupe. They already will have half the basic choreography down by then — a DVD with the routine is expected to arrive within a week — but they will need to learn the rest and practice with the entire group.

Jaeger said she expected the dancing would be “pretty fierce. The style is very ...”

When she paused to find the right adjective, Morrow piped in. “Muscular,” she said.

Morrow and 12-year-old Mackenzie Padgett, a seventh-grader at Kalispell Middle School, said they were excited about the opportunity to dance in the show. Croteau said that while she was likewise excited, she anticipated feeling butterflies in the stadium.

“I will be [nervous] once I get there,” she said.

To get to San Diego, each dancer must raise $850. That amount includes five days in San Diego and covers everything but a couple of meals, Jaeger said. No formal fundraisers have been planned; those interested in learning more may contact the Academy of Performing Arts at 755-0139.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.