Tina Marie Reed / THE FLARE

The Flare

Vol. 79 No. 19

Friday, April 8, 2016

REVELS

SPECIAL EDITION

‘The Show Must Go On’

Rangerette never gives

up despite devastating

leg injuries, rehabilitation

Dancing through pain

Lacey Bunn / THE FLARE

Lainey Bergen-Henegouwen, right middle lieutenant of the Rangerettes, tore ACLs in both of her legs and had to undergo

extensive rehabilitation before daring to dance again. She will carry a solo routine in this year’s Revels.

R E V E L STHE FLARE

FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 20162PAGE

KAYLA TERRAZAS

Staff Writer

Rangerette right middle lieutenant Lainey Bergen-

HenegouwenRight Middle Lieutenant Lainey Bergen-

Henegouwen was in the middle of a routine when one leap ultimately changed the course of her life. Last year, during Revels, Bergen-Henegouwen shared the stage with her fellow freshman while performing the Freshman Swingster dance. (Little did she know that one wrong move would mean two major surgeries, months of physical therapy, and a testing of her strength, both mentally and physically).

During the routine, Bergen-Henegouwen took a leap, one that she had landed countless times. Except this time, when she came into the landing, her foot stayed in place but her knee kept going to the point it popped out of place. After collapsing, Bergen-Henegouwen ran off stage to check her injury. Bending her leg a few times and feeling around, she thought her leg was fine and returned to perform the next routine. Within the first move, she felt her knee pop out again. That’s when she knew something was wrong and once again left the stage.

The injury was originally though to be a sprained MCL, a tear of the ligament on the inner side of the knee and a subluxated patella, when the kneecap goes out of place and then immediately moves back. B e r g e n - H e n e g o u w e n though it was more. “I said OK, but it didn’t feel like that,” she said. The recovery time for the injury would be four to six weeks, which she was sure she could do. A couple of days passed, her knee continued to be swell. Knowing that wasn’t common, Bergen-Henegouwen returned to her trainer. She was told she needed to get to the doctor because there was a possibility she had torn her ACL, one of the major ligaments in the knee.

Within a doctor’s trip, Bergen-Henegouwen’s four-week recovery became a nine-month recovery due to a torn ACL. Two weeks later, Bergen-Henegouwen traveled to Houston for a surgery performed by Dr. Walter Lowe, the head team physician of the Houston Texans. Her injuries included a torn ACL and meniscus, a strained MCL, and damaged cartilage (which was then replaced with synthetic material.) After the major surgery, B e r g e n - H e n e g o u w e n began rehab three times a week. Due to the damage of cartilage, Bergen-Henegouwen was not allowed to walk on her right leg for a month and was only able to do bends and lifts as exercise.

In June, she was given the go-ahead to walk on her leg and began elliptical and bicycle, which continued through July. “Last year, I was the freshman sergeant. I was the representative for the freshman class. With that I had a lot of duties over the summer. So I had to balance this injury and my responsibility to the team,” she said.

On top of dealing with her torn ACL and her position for the Rangerettes, officer tryouts lasted all summer. These tryouts require a lot of writing, teaching in front of the team, going to camps, and being watched through-out the summer to see if the candidates are up to leading a team.

“That process is hard in itself, to have all this,” she points at her left leg, “going to physical therapy on top of that, and making sure I’m doing everything

I can to get better quicker with the stress of ‘Will this affect me in the long run?’ It was hard to add on,” Bergen-Henegouwen said.

“From the beginning, I told myself that I wouldn’t let this affect what it didn’t have to,” she said. For pre-training, where the new freshman candidates try out, officer candidates must perform a solo, which Bergen-Henegouwen did from a chair because she was not yet released to dance.

In August, she was allowed to begin running and jumping, which was right in time for Rangerette Show Offs. This event introduces the freshman and sophomore Rangerettes, and officer candidates perform the traditional strut. The strut requires quick movements and high kicks, “I think I ended up doing it, because of my knee, six or seven times; the captain -she did it 12 or 14 times and it’s hard,” Bergen-Henegouwen said. After the panel watched the strut performed by the candidates, they chose officers for that year’s line. Bergen-Henegouwen was chosen as Right Middle Lieutenant, “I worked all summer to really be able to get back to dancing. Whenever I got it, it was like all my hard work paid off.”

One month later, in September, Bergen-Henegouwen went back to her doctor who ran a series of physical tests and said “you’re looking really great, I don’t see why we can’t let you progress back into dancing.” Five days later, in a dance class, Bergen-Henegouwen took a jump off her left leg, which would land back on her left. This jump had nothing to do with injured leg --it was all on her good leg. “I came down and felt it buckle underneath me, exactly like what I had felt this one do.” After a bit of panic from both her and her instructor, Bergen-Henegouwen thought it was fine. When she attempted to walk she felt it buckle once more and then decided to return to the trainer.

From the moment she arrived with the trainer all she asked was that they check her ACL, she had just gotten released and couldn’t imagine having to do those past few months again. From there she was booked an appointment in Tyler. All day she was convinced she had torn the ligament. Upon arriving, she was told by the physician’s assistant that she was fine and hadn’t torn it. This was a prayer answered for Bergen-Henegouwen, there was no better words in that moment for her. Later that night, when stepping out of the shower, Bergen-Henegouwen felt the exact same pain in her left leg as she has a few months ago in her right. Certain she had tore her other ACL, Bergen-H e n e g o u w e n called her mom, who thought she was just having flashbacks of the pain, and insisted on an MRI to make sure it was true. The next day she was given a test, that showed her ACL was torn in half. That night, Bergen-Henegouwen went back to Houston to schedule an a p p o i n t m e n t and was back in surgery within a week. “This time it wasn’t as bad. It was bad, but it wasn’t torn cartilage and all that, because I didn’t continue dancing on it,” she said. Since it was not as extreme as her last ACL tear, Bergen-Henegouwen was able to walk right after surgery, “The second one was a lot easier than the

first one, but it was like the same thing -I was starting over after I had just been cleared.”

B e r g e n - H e n e g o u w e n returned to physical therapy, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7:30 a.m. in Longview. Three

months out of surgery, with the permission of her doctor, she was allowed to do the traditional strut at the Cotton Bowl. One month later, February 8, she was cleared to dance. “If you look at it last April, they told me I’d be cleared from my first surgery, in

January 2016, and then I got cleared for my second one in February. Just the timeline of it is pretty crazy.” Bergen-Henegouwen said she had the Rangerettes to thank for that. “If it were to happen in another situation, I probably wouldn’t have recovered as

fast as I did. Rangerettes has definitely helped me a lot through this.”

While being a Lieutenant she landed a solo in this year’s Rangerette Revels. The auditions for her solo were in January, a month before she was released. Since she was progressing so

well, she was allowed to try out because they knew she’d be released before Revels.

“A lot of the time I’m dancing, people come up to me and say ‘I can’t even watch you, you make me so nervous,” she said. B e r g e n - H e n e g o u w e n

choreographed her own solo, which is pure movement, not like the other dances that involve kicks, turns, and leaps. She made it a goal to choreograph it where she didn’t make other people nervous.

“I still can’t believe it” she said. Though the simplicity of her solo is r e a s s u r a n c e to others that she’s OK, she didn’t sacrifice

anything. Her style of dancing is more movement than technical.

“I’m lucky in the fact that my style is more contemporary, it’s totally still me. I would do it every single day, I love it.” No one will be able to tell you this story more beautifully then

Bergen-Henegouwen. Her performance will follow a video showing her recovery and everything she went through.

For Bergen-Henegouwen recovering was much more than just for dancing. “Without my entire freshman year of Rangerettes, this wouldn’t have been possible. Rangerettes just teaches you to get up and do it. No matter how unfortunate it is, you get up and do it.” Rangerettes is a camaraderie that comes from living together, knowing that they’re all going through the same thing together, being at the same stage in life and being able to relate to these people on some many different levels. “That’s honestly what got me through this,” Bergen-Henegouwen said. Being able to be by her friends every single day and them showing her the hard work it take to push through everything. “Everyone has their own battles mine just seem to be a little more prevalent in my life, you know?” she said. No matter what it is, Rangerettes taught her to get up everyday and just do what has to be done. “You just have to accept you circumstances

“Everyone has their own battles,

mine just seem to be a little

more prevalent in my life, you

know? You just have to accept

your circumstances and keep

going.”

New York state of mind

Madeline Doerr, left middle lieutenant of the Rangerettes, placed in the top 100 in her first audition for the Rockettes.Tina Marie Reed / THE FLARE

R E V E L S THE FLAREFRIDAY, APRIL 8, 2016 3PAGE

KAYLA TERRAZASStaff Writer

When Madeline Doerr finishes this year’s Revels, she

won’t view it as her last high kick. In fact, she hopes to turn the experience she gained with the precision drill team into another line of work — dancing as a Radio City Rockette.

Doerr’s dancing days began in North Carolina with tap dancing at the age of four. She continued dancing for the next 14 years. When she moved to Texas her sister got involved in drill team, thus

introducing a whole new style of dance. She admits thinking it was a bit crazy at first; it was all very Southern. “My sister did it and so I followed in her footsteps,” Doerr said. “Which is where I figured out I loved to dance.”

From then on, Doerr began working at dance studios and taking classes. It took her a while to decide whether or not she wanted to continue drill team or just dance in general. She eventually made her decision.

“I realized that drill team was my favorite thing and I would love it no matter what and no matter how long I did it,” she said. During

her freshman year of high school, Doerr traveled to New York to perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. There she saw the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular, which left her in awe. Ultimately, becoming a member of the Rockettes became her dream.

At the time she was around 4’10”, which left her with little hope, due to the 5’6” height requirement to audition for the Rockettes. Luckily, over the next few years Doerr grew to be 5’6” and a half. After her senior year of high school, she decided to try her luck and traveled to New York with

her mom to audition. Her first Rockette audition was at the beginning of summer 2014 for the Christmas show.

“The most fun thing about New York is no one really gets distraught by auditions, because they all feel blessed to be there,” she said. Out of 530 of those trying out, Doerr made it in the top 100 before leaving. She was in the top 15 to 20 percent of dancers being considered for the audition.

After returning from New York City, Doerr decided to try out for the Rangerettes. “I knew right away, from the first class I took that I wanted to be here for the next two years,” she said. “It’s been

the best experience I’ve ever had. You figure out exactly who you want to be and you become an individual more so here.” She added that being a member of the Rangerettes has prepared her for the Rockettes, in the precision part of dance and being in unison. The presentation of it all is very similar.

D o e r r r e c e n t l y auditioned for the Rockettes’ S p r i n g Spectacular. Although she didn’t make it, she said it went really well and plans to attending the Rockettes’ s u m m e r program.

“Rangerettes to Rockettes is probably the closest thing in New York that you’ll find to Texas dance drill team.” It’s the perfect transition from small town to big city. The line is just a bit larger but still features the same style of dance as back home in East Texas. With a contagious smile on her face, she said, “It takes a 100 no’s before you get a yes. I’ve got 97 more tries to go.”

Doerr just recently decided to move to New York City after this semester. “So many people have said to me, ‘You are only young once,” and “Your body only looks like this for so long,’” she laughed. “We only have one life to live, and to follow your dreams is probably the most fun thing that you could do. Despite the fact that you might only have $7 in your bank one day.”

Her previous plan was to

transfer to Oklahoma City University, but now she’s considering online classes when she moves to NYC and maybe after a year, finishing school there. Within the first year she plans to audition for everything she can and

take in every opportunity, getting her name out there and networking. Thanks to the Rangerettes, as soon as she let the hat drop on her relocation to New York, she was presented with different contacts and m u l t i p l e opportunities. “I was surprised by the amount of people who came up to me and said that they knew R a n g e re t t e s who lived in New York,

so I’ll have a little bit of a family there.” She even found a roommate through her connections in Rangerettes: a fellow Texan to help her in the “big apple.”

“There are only so many parents in this world who would send you off to New York just to follow your dreams,” she added.

Her parents have supported her every step of the way, sending her to summer programs, putting her in dance classes, and pushing her to do better.

“My parents are probably the only reason I’ve been able to do what I’ve wanted to do,” Doerr said. “Without them I don’t know if I’d have that drive by myself to keep pushing on despite being put down.”

“I knew right away

from the first class I took that I wanted to be here for

the next two years.”

R E V E L STHE FLARE

FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 20164PAGE

Richard Nguyen / THE FLARE

Shivani Naik steps forward in the “A Great Piece of Music” performance.

Emily Shymkiw leaps into the spotlight during her ballet routine.

Heels up! The Rangerettes close Revels with their boots in the air.

Shivani Naik prepares for the “A Great Piece of Music” act.

Jenna Gerwels strikes a pose front and center.

Tiffani Branch / THE FLARE

R E V E L S THE FLARE

FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 2016 5 PAGE

Tina Marie Reed / THE FLARE

Victoria Gilchrist / THE FLARE

Tina Marie Reed / THE FLARE

Victoria Gilchrist / THE FLARE

Tiffani Branch / THE FLARE

Shivani Naik steps forward in the “A Great Piece of Music” performance.

Splits and high kicks! Rangerettes revel in the glory of their grand finale.Heels up! The Rangerettes close Revels with their boots in the air.

Sarah Higgins bursts into Broadway during her “New Yorker” skit for Revels.Shivani Naik prepares for the “A Great Piece of Music” act.

‘Rettes

Revelsrun

R E V E L STHE FLARE

FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 20166PAGE

KAYLA TERRAZASStaff Writer

This could just be about trying out for the Rangerettes twice. But in actuality, it’s an example of how everyone has their own unique story.

There was a certain feeling in the room when Haley Spencer first sat down to speak. She was timid and it was obvious talking was not the easiest thing for her to do. It soon became apparent why.

Her journey began when Haley’s father found the Rangerettes mini-camp her junior year of high school. He wanted her to continue dance through the summer and keep active while school was out.

“As soon as I finished mini camp for the first time I knew this is where my heart was,” Spencer said. From then on she knew she had to get her act together. Being from Temple, Spencer wasn’t aware of the extent of Rangerette tryouts.

Spencer’s parents located Intensive Dance Company in Henderson to help her train. Cindy Rains, the studio’s director, regularly holds summer camps for those wishing to try out for the Rangerettes. This is where Spencer spent the majority of the summer after her senior year. Going into tryouts, Spencer felt she needed more, but she was not mentally prepared for what it took. “The first time trying out, I went; and it tests you in so many ways. It takes a toll on your body — physically and mentally,” she said. To her, it didn’t feel right. She knew she wanted to be at KC, but had a sense that she didn’t train herself well enough to be on the line.

Sign drop day came and unfortunately Spencer’s Number 10 was not there.

“I saw my dreams vanish within a literal second,” she said. That same day, she went to Dallas and while she was shopping a woman approached her and, noting her shirt, asked if she had tried out for Rangerettes. Spencer said yes and that she hadn’t made it. The woman shared her similar experience with Spencer and told her she had auditioned again and made it. That day, Spencer made up her mind to try out again.

Her first step was to contact Rains for additional training. Rains offered to let Spencer live with her. Along with Rangerette Melanie True, the two trained all year to join the 75th line.

Spencer enrolled in every dance class offered at KC, took studio dance classes in Kilgore and Longview, and continued her training in Henderson. Every day, except Fridays, she was taking a dance class and working out with the Rangerette trainer. Spencer would often go to the studio at night alone and work out.

“I was really focused on improving my technique — kicking everyday, working out, and keeping my body healthy so that when I got to Rangerette pre-training, I couldn’t have an excuse,” she said.

With all of the training and preparation, Spencer had it in the back of her mind that there was still a chance she wouldn’t make it. Despite that, she continued to push herself. Throughout the year, she had dance classes with Rangerettes and, although they were a reminder of her fallen dream, they were also her motivation to be where they were and that made her push harder.

Tryout week came and the first day of pre-training Spencer popped her shoulder out of place during one of the routines. She thought it was a sign that she wasn’t supposed to be there, “It’s in God’s plan that I was suppose to work hard for this and show my determination and go through adversity and I’m just not meant to be at KC, no matter how much I want to,” Spencer recalled thinking. After praying and talking to her loved ones, Spencer chose to stay and keep striving toward her goal. Making that decision is what she believes gave her an extra edge at tryouts and the push that she needed.

For Spencer, the night before sign drop was hardest. She’d done it before and knew what it felt like to see the sign and not have her number up there. She was familiar with the feeling of walking out of Dodson Auditorium, knowing she wouldn’t be able to wear that uniform the next year. Sign drop day came and number 11 was on the sign.

“I’m probably going to cry, I can’t even begin to explain the feeling you get when you see your number on the sign.” Spencer said. “Any Rangerette can vouch for this, everything that you ever dreamed of was finally there.”

Spencer believes that all the determination of the year she didn’t make it helped her through her freshman year of Rangerettes. “I knew what it was like to not be here, so I took every moment in completely and I didn’t take anything for granted,” she said. The hard work that she put into everything has made her into the dancer and person she is today.

Learning from her trials throughout this process, Spencer is confident that with hard work and determination anyone can achieve anything. Spencer admits to doubting herself a lot and telling herself it was unattainable. Once she began to see changes in her dancing from all the training is when her hard work began to pay off. She changed her mindset and thought positively. She started telling herself she could do it, she could wear the uniform, she

could do what the Rangerettes did. “I would do it 100 times over if it meant getting to perform in the red, white, and blue again.”

Her parents, siblings and friends were her biggest supporters. Spencer’s parents, who helped her get through that first year, supported everything she did. With a shaky voice, she recalled

her father passing away two weeks before she moved into the dorm.

“He and my mom made this their dream too,” she said. “Now, with him not being here, it helps me to push myself while I am a Rangerette, because I know this was his dream for me too.” Folowing in her father’s footsteps, she plans to attend the University of Oklahoma.

She wants to become an orthopedic surgeon for children.

This was more than just someone trying out for a team. This represented a life journey; someone who put everything they had into improving and bettering themselves. This is someone’s life, everyone has a story.

Spencer personifies determination

Haley Spencer proudly displays her second-chance number. Her experience serves as an example of persistence.

Victoria Gilchrist / THE FLARE

Rangerette recounts memorable

adventure to ‘happiest place’

Revel in the magic of Disney

The Rangerettes enjoy their trip to Disney World.

Last month, the happiest place on earth welcomed 72 of the happiest girls on earth. The 75th and 76th lines

of Rangerettes were honored to be guest performers for the Contest of Champions at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Although we were there to perform as the world famous collegiate drill team we are known as, Disney World brought out the child in every single one of us.

This was my first time to experience the magical place that is Disney World. When I would think of Disney World, I would imagine the castles and princesses that everyone thinks of, when in reality it is so much more.

When we arrived, I was in awe. I was truly in a completely different world, a world full of Mickey Mouse and Disney logos.

Disney World is like its own city in Florida. In fact, I feel like it should be Disney World, Florida. It had its own transportation system, highways, and in total has four main parks that we were able to visit whenever we wanted.

The first day, I was so caught up in reliving my childhood that I forgot the real reason that we were there: to perform as Rangerettes. We had the opportunity to perform at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports, which was basically another theme park in its self. Our performance day began at 5:00 a.m. with rehearsal before the many teams that were competing in the contest arrived. Yes, it was early and most of us would have rather been out experiencing

Disney, but I learned long ago that those early morning practices are beyond worth it at the end of the day.

When it came time to put on the red, white, and blue and perform in front of hundreds of dance and drill teams, the butterflies hit. The gymnasium was massive and every seat was filled with people anticipating our performance. The dancers there were phenomenal, but none of them have ever executed the kick routines that we do.

In the moment, I am so focused and concentrate on the choreography and my technique, that I don’t really soak in the experience, but when we hit our ending position and the audience goes wild, that is the moment I remember.

Our trip after our performance was over consisted of full days at the

parks creating wonderful memories with my class.

I have learned that regardless of where the Rangerettes travel and perform, we do it with style and grace, and share the art form of drill team that some people have never witnessed. My trip to Disney World will be one that I remember for a lifetime, not for one specific reason, but for all the little things combined.

As my time as a sophomore Rangerette is coming to an end, I realize more and more every day that I would give anything to relive those moments and Disney with my best friends.

Morgan London is a public relations sophomore from Kilgore.

R E V E L S THE FLARE

FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 2016 7PAGE

“...regardless of where the Rangerettes

travel and perform, we do it with

style and grace...”

The Rangerettes’ 71st Revels is titled “The Show Must Go On.” Never being to a Revels performance before, I had no idea what to expect. However, I have gained a new respect for the Rangerettes in the process.

The show opens with a video showing the Monday after 2015 Revels when the ‘Rettes learned they needed a new artistic consultant. The show revolves around the many different and zany characters selling themselves to try and earn the job. Some are very dramatic, and others, “organic, as well as gluten free.”

The ballet portion of the show is very masculine, yet strangely beautiful. I was not

sure who to watch on stage at this time because of the personal flair each ballerina put into this performance.

Other different styles of dance are shown and each one is unique and extremely entertaining with a track list that made me want to get up on stage and dance. But I didn’t do that because I’m sure my lack of poise and grace would give away that I was not supposed to be up there.

“The Broadway of East Texas” entertained with flashy numbers and an homage to the Rockettes took the stage of Dodson Auditorium.

One of my favorite dance numbers included strong choreography by what

seemed to be Amazonian warrior women. The intense music, backed up by the movement and the striking set piece, added even more suspense to this part of the show. It made me feel intense and like I could do anything in the world.

I was then brought back down to Earth with pleasant and soft sounding portions of the show.

For my first time viewing a Revels performance, I was extremely impressed and encourage everyone to see the show. The time and work these women put into the show is obvious and deserves a strong round of applause. --Meaghan Morton

Jeanne Johnson will retire this year after forty years of teaching and making beautiful music with her students at Kilgore College.

You are invited to attend a reception honoring her on Friday, April 8, 2016 from 2:00-5:00 p.m. in the lobby of the Anne Dean Turk Fine Arts Building.

All present and former students along with friends both inside and outside of Kilgore College are welcome to attend.

Revels captivates reviewer

Special to The Flare

Tiffany Johnson / THE FLARE

R E V E L STHE FLAREFRIDAY, APRIL 8, 20168PAGE

Act by ActTina Marie Reed / THE FLARE

Tiffany Johnson / THE FLARE

Lauren LaBoyteaux / THE FLARE

Tiffani Branch / THE FLARE

Lauren LaBoyteaux / THE FLARE

Britney Gardner, shakes and takes on the tap routine during the first act.

Kelsey Moore tops a techno number.

’Rettes leap and shine in a Disney inspired magical musical mash-up.

Warrior women Rangerettes flip hair in powerful dance.

Bravisimo! ’Rettes twirl with gusto in Italian dance number.

Emotions in motion. Kierstin Dornak (front) leads the Rettes sway in emotional dance.