Although it’s a lip-syncing competition, the Thursday night phenomenon POTH embodies dancing, art and creativity, from the comical skits put on by the hosts, to the student dance choreography shown through the competitors, down to the class spirit the seniors showboated while the drum line performed.
This year’s hosts, seniors Maggie Gaus and Meredith Rathburn, showed the boys that girls can host too. For three straight years boys dominated the POTH host scene, but this year senior planning switched it up. Making fun of not only themselves but running off of each other’s weaknesses, Gaus and Rathburn made sure to pull out all the stops to represent this year’s theme, ABC. The hosts created a spin-off of the popular show, Modern Family.
The first group of acts were all the pre-selected student acts, which were approved by senior planning after auditions after school on Nov. 4. “They first signed up, then had to come in a couple days prior to the competition to be approved and selected for the actual show,” senior planning member Jocelyn Merkin said.
While these students original purpose was to lip-sync to songs of their choosing, many focused on their dancing as that was the true crowd pleaser. Juniors Jennifer Mondle and Siri Ranganath took first place with a dance surrounding the controversy over hip hop dancing and Indian dancing, finally merging the two towards the end of their act, encompassing the struggle that some face when trying to define themselves through dance.
Smack in the center of the production came the Poms, Woottonettes and SGA performances. The poms decided to change up their typical routine, adding more originality and breaks in the performance to add flair and create more chaos than normal, allowing students to see that they too can let loose. Following that came the Woottonettes, an all-boy spin-off of Poms who boasted their incredible shirt-making skills and ability to flex while maintaining the kick-line. Finishing these group acts was the SGA, who excelled in partner dancing and danced around Georgia Bartels-Newton dressed from head-to-toe as a Christmas tree.
Closing the show were the class acts, along with a special performance by Senior Planning. This year, the freshman class took home the prize decided by teacher judges Zachary Hardy, Sarah Debnam, Miim Kwak, and Eva O’Keefe.
As always, the highlight of the show was a reel created by Senior Planning filled with small skits regarding ABC shows that displayed teachers dancing to the JuJu’, a dance that has recently caught the spotlight on social media. Along with these clips, were reenactments of the show Grey’s Anatomy starring Rathburn. Along with this was a recreation of the show Lost, starring freshman Quinn Westwood as a lost freshman, with a newsbreak in the middle of the “show,” which played a clip of social studies teacher Bryce Coon displaying his love for the Kahoot song.
All in all, POTH managed to keep up its success as it has in years past, allowing students an opportunity to reveal their love for dancing while earning money for their class and themselves.

Kelly Schuler

Commons Editor