Hello everyone this week we are talking about a decades-old tradition here at North called Airband! Last month was highly stressful for me because I was performing in the show. Ever since my brother performed in 2018 I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of. The truth is Airband was always something I felt extremely connected to because I am in student government and I have been planning the show since I was a freshman. I knew what the performances were supposed to look like and how an audio should sound, but I truly had no idea how much time and effort had to be put into the creation of it all.
My group was made of 12 girls. Sam Clabaugh, Maizy Spreitzer, Caity Ridges, Amelia Mendrys, Reagan Zygmuntovictz, Aashi Choreria, Mary Mcquaid, Irene Egbers, Natalie Corocran, Kat Calic, and Klara Glyvidis. I want to shout out these girls because we worked really hard on that six minute performance. We had our first
practice in January and from there we practiced multiple times a week all the way up to March 18th. The truth is all of our practices were not the most productive ones, but when crunch time came around we got to work. After competing if I could give any advice to future airbands I would say to create your audio first, then decide who is going to be in what acts. From there, choreograph your big dance numbers (because you need to have some) and make sure your participants can quickly change between acts. Honestly, the day before dress rehearsal my team was still moving around acts and added more skits. Despite that, my team did a great job as we got 2nd place! I think when you put us on a deadline we get things done faster.
Now by the time we actually had to perform our routine at dress rehearsals, I was extremely nervous. I knew the dances like the back of my hand but I had kind of forgotten I had to do it in front of an audience. I was so used to just dancing in front of a mirror with 11 other girls laughing in the background. I honestly also think 
that performing onstage was less nerve-racking than dress rehearsals with the other airband groups. At dress rehearsals, we were simply practicing on the tile floor with no strobe lights, quiet music, and a bunch of eyes staring at us from about 3 feet away. Now that is not to say I did any better on stage because our performance on Thursday night was not our best. I rolled my ankle during the first dance, one of our signs fell through the stage, and Maizy completely missed one of her skits. But we did better than we thought because we ended up getting to perform once again at the assembly on Friday. We did 1000% better at the assembly and I was so happy to have received the crowd reaction that we did.
Airband was such a blast and I am happy to report that I have gained so many new friends because of it. These girls and I spent so much time together rehearsing and now we still hang out after it’s all over. We all went to the spring dance 
together and catch SquAIR up at prom as well (that was our name, if I did not mention it before). Now before I leave I would like to talk about some honorable mentions. Number one was our team MVP Reagan. Reagan choreographed the entire airband and added so many stunts (which is what really set us apart from the other groups). Also Mr. Nierman! Mr. Nierman and Mr. Bedore put so much time and energy into student government and events like airband. I seriously cannot imagine trying to constantly get a hold of almost 100 students to turn in their visuals and audios. Overall tradition has always been important to me and I am glad I got to participate in Norths biggest one. Airband was such a unique and fun experience and I am grateful for it everyday!
Hi Jordyn! It was great reading about airband! The first one I ever went to was last year’s and I loved it! This year was even better because a lot of my friends participated in it too and it was awesome seeing the progress. I would hear so much from other people of how long they practiced and I admired how much time and coordination. squAIR up was great! Even in the audience, it was nerve-racking to see all the lights and all the movement from the performers. It all seemed so overwhelming but everyone had a smile on their faces. I wasn’t there for the spring assembly but Thursday was pretty crazy to me! I didn’t notice any mistakes and each group was terrific! I’m glad you were able to make some new friends as well as get closer to some. This tradition of North’s is something I like a lot because I know some people from other schools that came to watch as well. I really like the concept of the shirts even though all I smelled were fumes. The connection between friends and underclassmen to the groups was also nice to watch because of the friendly competition.
Although I did rip on you guys for your airband performance to all of our faces, it was actually really good. Going to airband this year was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I went as a junior to watch it, but it’s a lot more fun when you actually know everyone performing as well. I really thought most of the skits were funny too. I always wondered what you guys would do at all of your practices because I know you guys practiced 3-4 times every week for a while. Also, I bet that these practices felt more and more like hangouts and I bet that made the entire airband experience even better. I bet that performing in front of everyone during school and also the night before was nerve-racking. It would be for me so props to you for being able to handle that. I also saw you roll your ankle during the performance and although I felt a little bad, I started laughing. I’m also pretty sure that your group was the group that had to restart their performance, because you couldn’t hear the music while you all were dancing. Anyway, you guys pulled through and made it fun to watch. I was rooting for Loveyairself, but it’s fine.