On March 16th a beloved Doherty tradition returned to the stage. 16 seniors danced, competed, and dressed to impress in order to win the title of Mr. and Ms. D.

Needless to say, it was a funny, chaotic, and memorable night.

After an introduction, the contestants participated in the dancing portion of the competition. Each dance couple was paired randomly and picked from two random songs to create a dance.

The first couple was Madi Aldrich and Rocky Nguyen, dancing to Cooler Than Me, by Mike Posner.

The dance was fun, entertaining, and followed a storyline in which Nguyen played a dorky nerd and Aldrich played the girl who thought she was cooler than him. This dance was one of the few to include a storyline-type premise themed around the song, which made the dance that much more entertaining and fun to watch.

“It was a lot of work,” Nguyen commented. “But the dance part was really fun because I collabed with Madi Aldrich to come up with the dance, which went pretty well.”

(Rocky also mentioned that Aldrich did most of the choreography for their dance.)

Next, Joei Barela and Drew Reichart.

Their song was Feralious by Fergie and will.i.am. The dance was fun, and the song/moves were able to get the crowd properly hyped up. Everyone seemed to enjoy the dance, and the dance moves/chosen song played a large part in this assessment.

After them were Erin Bettner and Chase Chapman, dancing to Hey Ya! by Outkast.

This song was a total throwback that had the crowd pumped up and excited. One of the most memorable moments from this dance was arguably when Bettner tried to vault over Chapman and instead hit his head. Beyond that, their dance was pretty iconic.

Next up were Tyr Elder and Tyler O’Neill, dancing to one of my (Birdie’s) all-time favorite songs, Classic by MKTO.

Now, I adored the song so I am potentially very biased in my judgment, but the dance was incredibly fun. All of the little movements in the choreography lined up with the lyrics of the song, which was so fun. And Elder was incredible, she definitely gave it her all.

They were followed by Peyton Kramer and Dylan Mercer, dancing to Party in the USA.

This dance felt like it was right out of a music video, it was fun and fresh. The song is slightly overplayed, in my (Birdie’s) personal opinion, but they were able to make it fun and enjoyable, which is a huge bonus for sure.

Marynn Krull and Ezra Stepanek were next, dancing to Starships by Nicki Manaj, the dance featured Krull getting on Stepanek’s shoulders, not once, but twice, which should tell you everything you might need to know. They were having fun on stage and the choreography was entertaining, and overall, this dance was a vibe.

Next, Alexis Meadows and Sam Koch, dancing to Dynamite by Taio Cruz.

It was a fun dance, the two wore matching banana costumes, and at one point they were running through the audience and giving them candy which is always a bonus.

Grace Morrison and Trenton Rodgers followed up next, and they danced to Bye Bye Bye by NSYNC.

My favorite part of this dance was when each of them took a solo in the song and pretended to sing it, and then the other partner was dancing around to ballet in the background. This dance was fun, and the moves resembled those of the 90s.

Look out for the next review! Mr. and Ms. D’s Talent portion