Michela Furey of Old Bridge, Jessica Staats of Keyport and Stephanie DeFeo of Old Bridge (l-r) are among the dancers selected to perform at the Sugar Bowl next week.
OLD BRIDGE — Three students from Janet’s Dance Centre, Route 516, have been selected to perform in the pregame and half-time shows at the Nokia Sugar Bowl at the Superdome in New Orleans Jan. 1.
Michela Furey and Stephanie DeFeo, both of Old Bridge, and Jessica Staats of Keyport were chosen to join approximately 20 other performing arts groups from across the country in putting on the large-scale shows produced by Big Game Association (BGA) Performance of Salt Lake City, Utah.
According to teacher and dance studio owner Janet Golub of Colonia, the three students will participate with the other dancers in a prechoreographed, novelty number in the pregame and half-time shows. Those shows will feature a patriotic theme, she added.
The students are gathering with other dancers in New Orleans prior to Jan. 1 for three days of intensive rehearsal. In addition, all the various performing groups will display their individual talents in the Sugar Bowl Showcase held at the Sheraton in New Orleans.
Upon being contacted by BGA Performance about possible participation by her students, Golub sent a videotape of the three students performing. That videotape served as an official audition judged by a choreography staff, Golub said. The judges chose the show performers based on their videotaped performance.
Furey, a junior at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, has studied with Golub for 15 years. Staats, a freshman at Brookdale Community College, Lincroft section of Middletown, has also studied with Golub for 15 years. DeFeo has studied with Golub for 13 years and attends Old Bridge High School West.
According to a press release from BGA Performance, the dancers are also welcome to participate in a number of social activities while in New Orleans. Those activities include an awards ceremony and honorary dinner/dance at Mardi Gras World and a paddleboat lunch cruise on the Mississippi River.
Golub has owned and operated Janet’s Dance Centre in the Browntown Shopping Center for 15 years.