Look out for Cyclones during the NFL Super Bowl 50 half-time show because they will be dancing with Coldplay.
Thirty Mills students and staff members applied and were accepted to perform during the half-time show that will feature Coldplay and possibly Beyoncé. The “Mills College Super Bowl Dream Team” will be one of several groups to perform in the show at Santa Clara’s Levi Stadium on Feb. 7. This year, the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos will square off for the Vince Lombarti trophy.
“[This] is something fun that I did in college,” Junior Margarita de la Torre said. “I think that it is something really cool that Mills has the chance to do and I’ll be apart of it.”
Over winter break, de la Torre and the other participants saw the Division of Student Life’s (DSL) Facebook post about participating in the show, and quickly signed up. Sascha Brown, coordinator of Student Activities, submitted the list of interested people to the Casting Team Super Bowl 50 who would then select the performers.
Selected performers are required to attend three mandatory rehearsals at the stadium: one dance rehearsal and two dress rehearsals during the week before the big game. In addition, performers must abide by strict rules such as no cellphones and recording devices. Because the rehearsals are mandatory, all Mills participants must attend if they do not want their group to be removed from performing in the half-time show.
Despite the list of strict stipulations, the Casting Team Super Bowl 50 stated that performing in the half-time show “will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, that very few people in the world encounter.” For senior Larri Ford, this experience could mean possibly encountering Beyoncé at the game.
“In my head, I told myself that I was going to touch Beyoncé even though everyone told me not to,” Ford said.
Although participating members are excited to take part in the half-time show, others are opposed to taking part in the Super Bowl festivities. Many oppose how the Super Bowl pre-game events are displacing the homeless population in San Francisco. This has lead to a protest being organized for Feb. 3 to object the city’s action on behalf of the San Franciscan homeless population, demanding the city to invest $5 million for housing. Actions made to displace the homeless have impacted many Mills members’ decision to participate in the Super Bowl half-time show.
The Super Bowl was last hosted in the Bay Area for Super Bowl XXVIII in 1985. When it comes to rooting between either football teams, Ford is siding with the Panthers because “[she] loves cats.”
