Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Final Exams or NBA Finals? For These Boston Conservatory Students, It's Both

13/06/2024

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
LINK: https://www.berklee.edu/berklee-now/news/final-exams-or-nba-finals-for...
See more stories from berklee

Most recent headlines

09/11/2025

Dalet Unveils Agentic AI Media Workflows at IBC2025

Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...

06/10/2025

France Tlvisions Wins Prestigious 2025 EBU Technology & Innovation Award in Groundbreaking Collaboration with Dalet

France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...

17/09/2025

Fox TV Stations Join Madhive's Local Live Sports Marketplace

NEW YORK Madhive has announced that the Fox Television Stations have joined its Live Sports Marketplace....

17/09/2025

Sony Electronics Partners with Newhouse School at Syracuse University

SYRACUSE, N.Y. Sony Electronics has announced that it is partnering with the Newhouse School at Syracuse University to provide state-of-the-art equipment, hands...

17/09/2025

Roku's First TV Smart Projector Now Available in the U.S.

SAN JOSE, Calif. Roku has announced that the first smart projector using its Roku TV operating system, the Aurzen Roku TV Smart Projector D1R Cube, is now avail...

16/09/2025

SVG All-Stars: Leigh Michaud, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPN

SVG All-Stars: Leigh Michaud, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPNThe UConn grad rose from ESPN's mailroom to become one of its most valuable ops leadersBy Bran...

16/09/2025

Live From IBC 2025: Friday's Latest From Halls 1-4, Outdoor Exhibits in Amsterdam

Live From IBC 2025: Friday's Latest From Halls 1-4, Outdoor Exhibits in Amst...

16/09/2025

Live From IBC 2025: Saturday's Latest From Halls 5-7 in Amsterdam

Live From IBC 2025: Saturday's Latest From Halls 5-7 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff Friday, September 12, 2025 - 17:00 Print This Story The SVG Europe and ...

16/09/2025

Live From IBC 2025: Sunday's Latest From Halls 8-10 in Amsterdam

Live From IBC 2025: Sunday's Latest From Halls 8-10 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff Saturday, September 13, 2025 - 17:00 Print This Story The SVG Europe and...

16/09/2025

Live From IBC 2025: Monday's Latest From Halls 11-14 in Amsterdam

Live From IBC 2025: Monday's Latest From Halls 11-14 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff Sunday, September 14, 2025 - 17:00 Print This Story The SVG Europe and ...

16/09/2025

Amazon Prime Video Picks Up Four Hours of Early-Round Masters Coverage in 2026

Amazon Prime Video Picks Up Four Hours of Early-Round Masters Coverage in 2026By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S. Tuesday, September 16, 2025 - 10:15 a...

16/09/2025

VERSANT Inks Deal for League One Volleyball as Women's Sports Rights Slate Grows

VERSANT Inks Deal for League One Volleyball as Women's Sports Rights Slate G...

16/09/2025

ESPN VP, Corporate Communications, Katina Arnold Named SVP, Disney Advertising Communications

ESPN VP, Corporate Communications, Katina Arnold Named SVP, Disney Advertising C...

16/09/2025

IBC 2025 in Review: SVG Europe's Full Collection of Video Interviews From the Show Floor

IBC 2025 in Review: SVG Europe's Full Collection of Video Interviews From th...

16/09/2025

Celebramos 10 aos de Viva Latino en Spotify y el xito global de la msica latina

Hace una d cada, la m sica latina representaba apenas el 8% de las reproducciones globales en Spotify. Hoy, constituye m s de una cuarta parte (27%) de toda la ...

16/09/2025

Celebrating 10 Years of Spotify's Viva Latino Playlist and the Global Rise of Latin Music

A decade ago, Latin music made up just 8% of global Spotify streams. Today, it a...

16/09/2025

Spotify Welcomes Graham Norton and Select VICE Studios Content

Spotify is expanding our video lineup with a new partnership with Zoo 55, part of ITV Studios. For the first time, acclaimed content from ITV Studios is landing...

16/09/2025

One Enterprise, One Mission: Aligning the Supply Chain to the Warfighter

At DSEI 2025, James Dunne of L3Harris Maritime UK chaired a panel on aligning the supply chain to the warfighter, where leaders discussed modernising support fo...

16/09/2025

RTW chooses Calrec as technology partner

Calrec has strengthened its collaboration with audio metering expert RTW by integrating RTW's new TMxCore metering platform across its full range of Argo IP...

16/09/2025

Football and Back-to-School Dynamics Spark First Gains Since April for Traditional TV

College Football Scores Top Telecast in August with 16M+ Viewers on FOX, Followe...

16/09/2025

Index Exchange and Gracenote Team to Enhance Contextual Intelligence in Programmatic Streaming TV

Collaboration marks the first SSP integration of Gracenote IDs, enabling show-le...

16/09/2025

IBC2025 Attracts 43,858 Visitors

AMSTERDAM The organizers of IBC2025 are reporting that 43,858 visitors from more than 170 countries attended the event, which had more than 1,300 exhibitors and...

16/09/2025

Wooden Camera Releases Accessory Collection for FUJIFILMs...

Wooden Camera announces the release of its new Accessory Collection for the FUJIFILM GFX ETERNA 55. The highlights of this collection include vital power soluti...

16/09/2025

AntonBauer Launches Free Cloud Platform for Smarter Batte...

Anton/Bauer, a leading manufacturer of mobile power solutions for broadcast and cinematic equipment, has announced the launch of Anton/Bauer Fleet Management, a...

16/09/2025

Teradek Launches Prism Jetpack - A New Era of 5G Video Co...

Teradek, a leading provider of video transmission and live production solutions, today announced the launch of Prism Jetpack, a groundbreaking 5G video contribu...

16/09/2025

Astera Reinvents Practical Lighting with SolaBulb

Astera, the leader in wireless LED lighting solutions, announces the ultra-versatile SolaBulb. Building on the success of the Astera bulb family, SolaBulb intro...

16/09/2025

TED2025 Relies on Clear-Com and NETGEAR to Power Producti...

As the world gathered at TED2025 to explore the provocative theme "Humanity Reimagined", Clear-Com , supported by NETGEAR networking infrastructure, delivered f...

16/09/2025

Bitfocus Wins IABM Impact Award as Pro AV Changemaker

Bitfocus' Buttons platform celebrated as a catalyst for AV and broadcast convergence Bitfocus has been named winner of the IABM Impact Award Pro AV Chan...

16/09/2025

IABM announces winners of the Inaugural IABM Impact Award...

Record entries and outstanding innovation celebrated at IBC2025 as the MediaTech community honors its leading people, projects and organizations IABM announced...

16/09/2025

SKY Perfect Modernizes Playout-to-Delivery with Harmonic

Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation (SJC), a leading satellite operator and pay-TV provider in Japan, has partnered with H...

16/09/2025

Telestream Congratulates Sky Group on IBC Innovation Awar...

Telestream congratulates Sky Group, which has been awarded the prestigious IBC Innovation Award for Content Distribution for its MediaMesh platform on Sunday, S...

16/09/2025

SES Partners with Cailabs to Test Next-Generation Laser Communication Technology

Leading space solutions company will use optical ground stations to deliver faster, more secure data from space Luxembourg, September 15, 2025 - SES, a leading...

16/09/2025

ENCO Introduces Raptor Cloud-Based Captioning For Live Streaming Video

NOVI, Mich. ENCO has unveiled Raptor, a cloud-based live streaming captioning encoder that injects the speed, power and reliability of real-time AI capabilities...

16/09/2025

Comcast NBCU and NBCU Local Award $2.5 Million to Nonprofits

NEW YORK Comcast NBCUniversal and NBCUniversal Local have announced that a total of $2.5 million has been awarded in 2025 to 69 nonprofit organizations servicin...

16/09/2025

Martin Euredjian Joins Atomos

AMSTERDAM Martin Euredjian has joined Atomos as director of advanced imaging and will lead innovation for advanced display technology....

16/09/2025

Calrec Unveils 48-Fader Argo M

AMSTERDAM Calrec introduced a 48-faced Argo M and showcased its largest Argo software updates at the recently concluded IBC2025....

16/09/2025

Lawo Unveils HOME Audio Shuffler App

AMSTERDAM Lawo introduced its HOME Audio Shuffler app, a replacement for a traditional baseband audio matrix within an IP-based Dynamic Media Facility, during t...

16/09/2025

77th Emmy Awards on CBS Deliver Largest Audience Since 2021

CBS is reporting that the 77TH Emmy Awards hosted by Nate Bargatze on Sunday Sept. 14 was seen by more than 7.42 million viewers on the CBS Television Network a...

16/09/2025

The AI Makers: NVIDIA Partners in UK Advance Physical and Agentic AI, Robotics, Life Sciences and More

The U.K. is driving investments in sovereign AI, using the technology to advance...

16/09/2025

Meet the Adversaries That Will Clash in 'Rulers of Fortune', a Series Premiering October 29 on Netflix

Back to All News Meet the Adversaries That Will Clash in Rulers of Fortune, a S...

16/09/2025

Would You Take 30 Million Baht from a Dead Person's Account? Everybody Loves Me When I'm Dead' Unveils Main Trailer, Key Art

Back to All News Would You Take 30 Million Baht from a Dead Persons Account? E...

16/09/2025

Netflix Unveils the Official Trailer and Poster for 'She Walks in Darkness', by Agustn Daz Yanes

Back to All News Netflix Unveils the Official Trailer and Poster for She Walks ...

16/09/2025

Comscore Unveils The Scoreboard: An Interactive Destination Surfacing Consumer Behaviors and Trends Across Multiple Platforms

Comscore Unveils The Scoreboard: An Interactive Destination Surfacing Consumer B...

15/09/2025

Get to Know This Fall's Filmmakers Through These 27 Sundance Institute-Supported Titles

Steve Zahn, Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, and Janeane Garofalo star in Ben Stiller&...

15/09/2025

aespa and Spotify Invite Fans to Unlock Their Inner Rich Man' With an Immersive MY VAULT Experience

Global K-Pop sensation aespa is redefining what it means to be rich with the r...

15/09/2025

Spotify's Free Experience Is Even Better-Here's How to Make the Most of It

Every day, millions of people around the world turn to Spotify to enjoy the audi...

15/09/2025

Brembo SGL Carbon Ceramic Brakes (BSCCB) successfully expands production capacity by 50% in Germany and Italy to meet rising demand

After months of intensive planning and implementation, Brembo SGL Carbon Ceramic...

15/09/2025

L3Harris Receives Multi-Year Javelin Solid Rocket Motor Contract

A U.S. Marine launches a Javelin shoulder-fired anti-tank missile during a training exercise. (Photo credit: U.S. Marine Corps)...

15/09/2025

TV Tech Unveils Best of Show Winners at IBC 2025

AMSTERDAM TV Tech has named its Best of Show Awards winners for IBC2025, which wraps up today. Entrants were judged by a panel of industry experts on the criter...

15/09/2025

SES SCORE Surpasses 600,000 of Transmission Hours, Delivering 900 Hours of Major Sports Content Daily

Unique sports content orchestration platform builds momentum among SES's cus...