This Friday, Andover students crowded the stands of the Borden Memorial Gym’s basketball court for the Fall 2024 pep rally. An Andover tradition, the pep rally was held the Friday night before Andover/Exeter (A/E) to boost school spirit. It featured performances by clubs, including hip-hop dance group, Hypnotiq (Hypno), Afro-Carribean dance group, Fusion, Jazz dance group, Blue Strut (Strut), K-pop dance group, JVNE, Drumline, and varsity sports teams. Students are also led in a series of chants, both new and old, by the Blue Key Heads. As the campus spirit leaders, each Friday, the ten seniors adorn themselves in big blue pride to prepare for the weekend’s athletic games, and on game day, they lead spectators in chants. One of their larger tasks includes running the A/E pep rally. Jaylen Daley ’25, Blue Key Head, talks about the Blue Key Heads’ organization efforts for the event and the close bond that he feels between himself and his fellow Blue Key Heads.
“As a Blue Key Head who is unaffiliated with interscholastic sports, the task of organizing the pep rally was less daunting for me. We opted for sharing the duties we could commit to, big and small. But the whole process, including organizing and doing the pep rally felt like a bonding activity between me and the Blue Key Heads. The time we spent brainstorming a theme and rehearsing our own dances was fun overall. I felt surrounded by people who were looking out for each other nonstop, and they’re all great to be around. The Blue Key Heads themselves are incentive to work through organizing events, so I think my favorite part was being with them,” said Daley.
In previous years, Daley performed at the pep rally as a part of the hip-hop dance team Hypno. Daley compares the feeling of dancing in one act to being upfront and guiding the audience throughout the entire pep rally. He discusses how he was able to feel comfortable in the space despite the daunting experience of standing before the entire school.
“Being a Blue Key Head at the pep rally is a greatly different experience, being in front of everyone the whole time, compared to being a dancer spending time with other spectators in the stands. The Borden basketball/volleyball court feels much smaller once you’ve run a couple laps around it; the voices are more muted when the stands erupt for their class years, and it’s disillusioning, like your first week at a dream job,” said Daley.
Kaliah Fortune ’26 is a member of both Girls Varsity Volleyball and Fusion. She discussed the goals of both groups as they prepared to perform in the pep rally. While Fusion aimed to hype up the audience and incorporate their cultural elements, Volleyball choreographed an act to reflect their team spirit and maintain their organization as volleyball players.
“I performed with both Fusion and the Girls Varsity Volleyball team. For Fusion, our goal is always just to be as hype as possible. We bring in lots of cultural elements and dance moves, and then we put it all together in a dance that’s hype and fun and energizes everyone for the next day, A/E. Then, for volleyball, Flat Line, which is the song that we lip-synch to, has been our team song. We always sing it on the buses and at practices, so we thought that we definitely should incorporate that into our piece. And then, for the Usher song, we wanted to have a contrasting song, one that was more hype, upbeat, and exciting. Because the choreography was simple, it could go with the beat, and we could be as organized as possible as volleyball players,” said Fortune.
In addition to sports teams, the wide variety of dance performances is central to an Andover pep rally. Izzy Park ’26 performed with JVNE. She loved the performance experience because she got to meet many new dancers through the rehearsal process. However, she was challenged by the short time frame available to choreograph and clean the dance.
“I performed with JVNE, and we chose iconic K-pop songs that sound hype and energetic. My favorite part was getting to know the lower classmen because I got to know a lot of new students, especially when rehearsing. I was especially happy to see how so many newer dancers visibly gained confidence through the process. We were a bit short on time for rehearsals because everyone here has multiple commitments, so it was a bit challenging to try and put everything together within a few practices,” said Park.
