Roselle Rams Delight Crowd At New Jersey Devils Game

From the Roselle Public Schools:

February 10 2020

ROSELLE – Members of Roselle’s Abraham Clark High School Marching Band and Grace Wilday Junior High School’s dance program performed in front of excited fans during intermission at the Prudential Center in Newark on Feb. 4.

The Devils didn’t win the game against the Montreal Canadiens, but it was certainly a victory for the Roselle Visual and Performing Arts Department, which is undergoing a resurgence.

In celebration of Black History Month, the select group of dancers performed a tribute Hip Hop dance to Tupac Shakur's “Changes.” It was an original dance that the students choreographed.

“Focusing on formations, the group got creative with constantly changing where they stood for the dance in order to captivate the audience's attention throughout the dance,” explained Amanda Nagy-Harrison, District Supervisor of Visual and Performing Arts. “By incorporating partnering and even lifts, the students really took a chance to create a one-of-a-kind dance piece for spectators at the Prudential Center.”

The marching band performed several tunes in addition to their competition show, featuring the music of the popular "Game of Thrones" series.

For the finale, the two groups merged together to perform a variation of the marching band’s “Let’s Go Rams” entitled "Let’s Go Devils,” which, again, was completely created by Roselle students.

“The performance and overall experience were a great success as our students represented the Roselle Public School District with great professionalism,” Nagy-Harrison added. “We could not be prouder of their hard work and dedication to their craft and passion.”

Assistant Superintendent Lissette Gonzalez-Perez said that she enjoyed seeing the large crowd that gathered around the students performing at the game.

“It was simply an awesome performance that was enjoyed by all,” Gonzalez-Perez said. “The Visual and Performing Arts Program has evolved so much over this past year alone and from here, it can only move forward.”

This performance is the latest in the evolution of the district’s Visual and Performing Arts program which has been expanded this year to include a string orchestra and a competition marching band.

The marching band recently invested in new uniforms for the first time in 10 years. In its first competition season, the ACHS band placed second at the 2019 South Plainfield Marching Band Competition in October.

“The district is pleased with the expansion of the Visual and Performing Arts program and we are very proud of these students that took the time to create, rehearse and memorize the performance for the New Jersey Devils,” said Interim Schools Superintendent Dr. James Baker. “All I hear is rave reviews.”

This press release was produced by the Roselle Public Schools. The views expressed here are the author’s own.