The parquet floor will be her stage
Holden woman to dance with Celtics
By John Orrell
The Landmark
Sarah Pisa will dance at Celtics games this season. Submitted photo Sarah Pisa will dance at Celtics games this season. Submitted photo When the legendary Boston Celtics open their 2014-15 NBA campaign in October, Holden folks will be proud to know that one of their own will be front and center on-court gracing the famous TD Garden parquet floor.
But there will be no slam-dunks, driving the paint for an easy layup, three-point shots or baseline jumpers.
Holden’s representative will be 23 yearold Sarah Pisa, who has made the final cut and will be a member of the Boston Celtics Dancers team for the upcoming season. Pisa, a full-time registered nurse, was chosen among over 100 aspiring dancers that made the cut down to 30 before being selected as one of the final 16 to make the team.
The dancers perform before the game and during breaks in the action. To her and her family, dancing has been a lifelong commitment and to be chosen by the Celtics is both an honor and a dream come true.
“Dance has been such a huge part of my life, and it’s what I liked to do growing up,” she said. “It became such a huge part of my life so I thought I would give auditions a shot and see what happens. My family and I were so excited when I got chosen because they’ve seen me dance my whole life and it’s hard not to have dance a big part of my life anymore, so they were happy to see that I would continue to be dancing and I’m so proud to have been chosen.”
Learning to be the accomplished dancer she has become began at age four and continued through the years with competitive dance that required as much as fifteen hours a week in rehearsals. She trained and competed with Charlotte Klein Dance Centers, where she now gives back. She teaches children ages 2-13 on Saturdays and enjoys seeing her students progress.
Pisa, a graduate of Wachusett Regional High School and Worcester State University, tried out for the Celtics Dance team a year ago and did not make the cut, something that was disappointing at the time, but may have helped her in the long run. She says the experience gave her more motivation this year and raised her feeling of comfort, knowing what to expect in the auditions.
Final auditions were held on June 27 at Boston’s Calderwood Pavilion. The audition consisted of a one-day dance intensive session with competitive segments featuring technical dance combinations, choreographed dance routines, group performances and interviews as well as solo performances where candidates creates their own choreography. On Saturday, June 30, finalists were selected to participate in the final show on the following Monday. The show consisted of various notable judges, including KISS 108 on-air and NESN Dining Playbook on-air personality Billy Costa and NESN Dining Playbook on-air personality Jenny Johnson.
“We started off with a basic across the floor combination three at a time and once you make it across the floor the judge either came up to you and gave you a call-back card or said ‘Thank you for coming today,’ and let you go,” Pisa said. “So once I got the call-back card, they gave me a number and then we moved on to the next phase, which was a jazzy, hip-hop combination which we did in small groups. And after that, they decided who they wanted to come into the solo rounds. So we all stood in line and went up one at a time and did improvisation dancing and after that they decided upon the 30 girls they wanted to take to the finals.”
Preparation for the finals was intense and nerve-wracking and it was here that all the years of formal competition paid dividends.
“Growing up with dance and being in front of judges made me not so nervous,” Pisa said. “I think it just becomes second nature to a dancer that there are people watching and judges watching every single thing that you do so you just get used to it.
“The finals were a big day. We came in the next Sunday and rehearsed all day long in preparation for the finals and then we rehearsed all day Monday and then we had a show at the Pavilion in Boston and that was really fun. We were able to have guests come in and watch. We did a jazz and hiphop combination and solos.”
It was following the show that the nerves from waiting for results kicked in to high gear. Would this be a second straight year of coming far but not quite close enough?
“It was nerve-wracking and at the end of the night we were all huddled back stage,” said Pisa. “They were just calling numbers one at a time. They called about ten girls and I was thinking ‘Oh no, it’s not going to happen this year’ and then I heard my number and it was like such a surprise and I was so excited.”
She will begin practicing with the team in mid-August, putting in as much as 20-30 hours a week. Besides dance time, promotional events in the community are part of the team’s activities. Each event usually consists of two to three girls at a time going out into the community.
Pisa admits that there may be butterflies on opening night but knows that her skill and commitment to the team will more than see her through. By October, the team should be well familiar with one another which is the goal looking forward.
“I think what will be happening next is more learning what happens on game day,” she explains. “We’ll be learning how to dance together as a team because when you have a new group of girls you always have to try and learn how to match each other and look unified.
“I think the first night will definitely be a lot of nerves but a lot of excitement. I never performed in front of 20,000 people before so I think that will be awesome and a special adrenaline rush.”
