
Final Exams or NBA Finals? For These Boston Conservatory Students, It's Both Two commercial dance students joined the Boston Celtics dancers for a memorable NBA season.
By
Sarah Godcher Murphy
June 12, 2024
Celtics dancer Sophie Reynolds performs in TD Garden.
Media News Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images
Sophie Reynolds and Isabelle Richards didn't watch much basketball growing up. Committed to their dance training at an early age, they spent far more time dancing competitively than following professional sports. So when the two auditioned for-and won-coveted spots on the Boston Celtics dance team in summer 2023, they were not well-versed in the finer points of the game. And they certainly weren't familiar with the Celtics tradition known as Gino Time, the in-your-face victory dance that accompanies a blowout win in TD Garden.
The 2023-2024 NBA season has been quite an education. Throughout their second year of studies at Boston Conservatory, Reynolds and Richards danced on the parquet-and earned academic credit for it-as the Celtics won 37 out of 41 regular season home games. They watched, courtside, as the team cruised to an Eastern Conference championship and then on to the NBA finals against the Dallas Mavericks. And during a season when the team won 19 games by a margin of 20 points or more, they became very well acquainted with the legend of Gino.
As the tradition goes, when the Celtics take an insurmountable lead (but not a moment sooner, because Boston fans abide by jinxes) the jumbotron in the Garden plays a clip from American Bandstand's disco heyday. The Bee Gees' You Should Be Dancing floods the loudspeakers, and the Celtics dancers lead the crowd in celebration, as a guy wearing a skin-tight shirt that says Gino appears on screen and casually grooves to the music.
When the music plays, everyone in the Garden knows exactly what's about to happen, and we run out there, Reynolds says. It's fun because you rub it in the other team's faces a little bit.
But even during a season loaded with lopsided victories, the dance team takes pains not to summon bad luck. Everybody has their own superstitions, and we're always like, Don't say the word Gino today,' says Richards. No lead feels quite safe enough to speak his name aloud-not even this past March when the Celtics beat the Golden State Warriors 140-88, according to Reynolds. We can have a 50-point lead and there's two minutes left, but we're still not going to say Gino.'
The Celtics won the first two games of the championship series at home, and will play games three and four in Dallas this week. Although neither student wants to start counting chickens just yet, they can't help imagining what it would be like to dance in a duck boat victory parade, should the Celtics go all the way. Nor can they contain their gratitude for front row seats to this championship run-while continuing to study for their bachelor's degree. I really think I lucked out, Reynolds says. What a year to be a rookie.
Isabelle Richards, left, dances with her teammates during a Celtics game.
Courtesy of Celtics Entertainment
In September 2022, Reynolds and Richards joined the inaugural class of a brand new, three-year commercial dance B.F.A. program at Boston Conservatory. As their first school year came to a close, they began a lengthy audition process with the Celtics, enduring multiple rounds of callbacks. Joining the team required a contractual commitment to practice several times a week at the Auerbach Center for the duration of the school year, in addition to 41 home-game performances. To make this schedule work, they devised an independent study, earning credits that would enable them to stay on track to graduate in just three years.
The commercial dance program's emphasis on professional preparation was a huge draw for both students. You can get good dance training from a lot of places, but you can't get good industry knowledge and mentorships from just anyone, Reynolds said.
During their first year in the program, both dancers studied with Associate Professor Anthony Burrell, a former principal for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater who first crossed over into commercial dance when he choreographed Beyonce's MTV Music Video Award performance in 2003. During their time in Burrell's Pop Diva Repertory course, they learned some of his best-known choreography, including steps from Beyonc 's Formation halftime show at Super Bowl 50 and Mariah Carey's Las Vegas residency #1 to Infinity.
I try to be like a sponge in his class because I only get so much mentorship and critiquing when I'm here, Reynolds says. Once you're out in the industry, you don't get that; so I'm trying to soak it up while I can.
Reynolds says her training with Burrell and other Conservatory faculty made her feel equipped for the Celtics audition process. Although she has loved her experience with the NBA, she chose not to re-audition for another season because she wants to spend her final year at the Conservatory focused on her dance studies, improving her technique and laying the groundwork for a career based in Los Angeles or New York after graduation. This past May, the Berklee Career Center connected Reynolds with pop singer MARIS for a performance at Boston Calling, and she intends to pursue more work with touring artists.
Richards did re-audition for the Celtics and made it to the final round in May-along with five other Boston Conservatory students from the commercial dance program. She hopes to stick with the team for at least one more year, and will find out later this summer if she made the cut for 2024-2025.
For Richards, dancing with the Celtics is a childhood wish, granted. Although she grew up in San Diego, her fa
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
17/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/06/2026
Montr al, Quebec, June 11, 2026 Kiloview, a leading provider of AV-over-IP and NDI -based video transmission solutions, today announced a distribution partner...
17/06/2026
Changsha, China, June 15, 2026 Kiloview officially announced the launch of U4 IP Video Dock, a compact IP video decoder and output dock designed to bring prof...
17/06/2026
Calibr-Skaggs awarded $5.1M by NIH to develop long-acting hepatitis B virus therapy A new program aims to replace a daily HBV drug with once-monthly or even qua...
16/06/2026
Thomson's highly regarded expert-led online learning courses are now easier to access on the go via our new App.
Available now on Google Play Store, the J...
16/06/2026
Neumann.Berlin has released firmware version 2.0 for the MT 48 audio interface, adding plugin compatibility, expanded Dante networking options, broadcast encode...
16/06/2026
TVNewsCheck has announced that nominations are now open for its 2027 Women in Technology Awards, to be presented at NAB Show 2027 on Tuesday, April 6 in the Med...
16/06/2026
Clear-Com has announced Avalon, a 1RU IP intercom platform for broadcast, live events, and production environments. Designed for IP-only workflows, Avalon suppo...
16/06/2026
SNS has published a guide to remote video editing workflows using its EVO shared storage platform and companion tools, covering use cases ranging from home edit...
16/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced that the Richmond Flying Squirrels, a Minor League Baseball affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, have deployed five Grass Valley LD...
16/06/2026
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) has announced the launch of the Official IPMX Training Series, a free online program covering the design, configurati...
16/06/2026
Swerve TV has announced distribution agreements with Fubo, Plex, Amazon Fire TV,...
16/06/2026
ATP and TikTok have announced an expansion of their global content partnership, extending the ATP's TikTok hub powered by TikTok GamePlan to cover all nine ...
16/06/2026
Network's LA facility serves as the heart of a sprawling operation built to ...
16/06/2026
At Pico, the network's media-management team is supporting a flood of HBS fe...
16/06/2026
The NHL will no longer air on CBC after the pulic broadcasters and national rights-holder Rogers Sportsnet were unable to come to agreement.
After a successfu...
16/06/2026
As live sports broadcasters continue to seek new ways to make complex action mor...
16/06/2026
Built with the 2026 FIFA World Cup in mind, these small but mighty IP-based tran...
16/06/2026
Boasts individual synths for each band
UVI's latest synth takes an interesting approach to synthesis, offering a trio of synth engines that each operate...
16/06/2026
New intelligent auto-fader plug-in unveiled
PSPaudioware's latest release offers automatic level adjustment and provides more detailed control than many...
16/06/2026
New performance-focused library announced
Crystal Pads is the latest addition to The Crow Hill Company's ever-growing product range, and according to th...
16/06/2026
Developed in partnership with Sequential
In recent years, GForce Software have branched into official emulations of classic hardware synths, delivering a ha...
16/06/2026
Designed specifically for live performance monitoring
beyerdynamic's latest announcement sees the company introduce an affordable in-ear monitoring syst...
16/06/2026
Official emulation celebrates iconic synth's 40th anniversary
Cherry Audio have just introduced Ensoniq ESQ-1, an official recreation of the 1986 polyph...
16/06/2026
Australians place growing trust in SBS News
16 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has been recognised as one of Australia's most trusted news providers, ran...
16/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz achieves highest number of GCF validated 3GPP NR NTN test cases ...
16/06/2026
Bydgoszcz to Become a Local Centre of Excellence for Advanced Rail Technologies....
16/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/06/2026
87 Percent of Creators Who Use Creative AI Say It Is Growing Their Business and ...
16/06/2026
Historic Zhuque-3 Reusable Rocket Test Mission Captured with URSA Cine Immersive
Brie Clayton June 16, 2026
0 Comments
Apple Immersive Video puts view...
16/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/06/2026
Rise WIB, the award-winning advocacy group championing gender diversity and career progression across the broadcast and media technology industry, today announc...
16/06/2026
Limecraft today announced the availability of Limecraft 2026.4, the fourth of eight planned platform releases this year. The update introduces Team-Based Access...
16/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/06/2026
Free Program Supports IPMX Education from Foundational Concepts Through System and Network Design
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) today announced t...
16/06/2026
Share your views on Screen Australia and the future of the industry 15 June 2026
Your feedback matters.
Following the instrumental insights provided in 2025,...
16/06/2026
Enterprises are moving agentic AI from proof of concept to production - and the next generation of AI factories are built for the era of agents.
At HPE Discove...
16/06/2026
AI runs at the speed of light. More and more, that light is made in Texas.
Cohe...
16/06/2026
Techtel Supports T-Motion RCCP-2A Controller Upgrade for Major Australian Broadc...
16/06/2026
Tuesday 16 June 2026
Record audiences tune in for opening weekend of ICC Women&...
16/06/2026
Every breakthrough AI model starts the same way: with a training run. The infrastructure running those training jobs shapes everything: how fast teams can itera...
15/06/2026
One of the more exciting internal video production divisions within a college at...
15/06/2026
The deal valued at $22 Billion is expected to close in the first half of 2027...