Two of our very own Eagles, Senior Kari Wilhelm, Communication major and dance team member, and Emma Lee, junior transfer and Business Management major, performed at the 2022 Super Bowl Halftime Show on Sun., Feb. 13. 

Between working with celebrity artists and being chosen to participate as two of the 350 field performers for the event, both ladies will remember the opportunity as an experience of a lifetime. 

Wilhelm has always had a passion for dance, and gravitated towards the sport alongside support from her family. She shared her experience with The Courier.  

Q: How long have you been dancing?

A: I started dancing when I was two or three years old. I did baby ballet, and as I got older I learned different styles like jazz, modern, hip-hop and tap. I did those dance styles throughout grade school and then when I reached high school I decided to play volleyball. In my senior year, I decided to join the dance team, and it got me into dancing again. After I graduated in 2016, I joined a performing arts organization where I learned to dive more into dance and retrain my technique. I traveled with the group for four years, and continue to dance with them, but now I am also on the CUI dance team. 

Q: When you started dancing, were your parents the ones that pushed you to that, and did their support help you discover your love for dance?

A: My older sister was already involved in dance, so my parents put me and my middle sister in dance, but they put us in everything; sports, dance, piano…everything! They let us pick which one we wanted to continue to do, so I kept dancing because I liked it. I never felt pressured to do something I did not want to do. I wanted to keep doing everything, but luckily my parents' support was a huge factor in continuing my dance career. 

So how did Wilhelm and Lee get the opportunity to perform at such a large-scale event?

Q: How did the opportunity come up for you to perform at the Super Bowl?

A: When I graduated high school I joined the Young American Performing Arts Group. This group was filled with people aged 18 to 25, allowing me to perform with a lot of different people. Many of these individuals helped produce the Super Bowl Halftime Show, and a couple of them were casting for the field performers. They messaged a bunch of young American alumni in the L.A. County area for potential interest in performing, and they messaged me. 

Lee transferred from The Young Americans, a performing arts college. Alumni from the school reached out to Lee with an invitation to perform as well. 

Q: How long have you and your teammates been preparing? 

A: The rehearsal process was a little different than what I was used to. Instead of one month of practice, dancers had one week leading up to the show to perfect the routine. It was a lot of pressure for everyone, including choreographers, directors and other performers, but each rehearsal was pretty long; around nine hours or so. There were 350 field performers, 100 professional dancers, and over 600 other people involved in the production to create memorable staging and formations to view on the big screen. We had to be prepared for anything, including stretching, practicing, and taking notes, because we had no idea what we were walking into! 

Q: What was your favorite thing about performing at the Super Bowl?

A: My favorite thing was getting to watch the whole process of how they put the show together, getting to meet and watch the performers multiple times, and getting to spend so much time on the field at SoFi Stadium! One of the reasons I wanted to try to figure out how to make this work is because there is no way I'm probably ever going to go to a Super Bowl game in my life. It was definitely something I didn't want to pass up.

Q: Were there any famous people that you got to meet or see? 

A: We got to meet all of the artists throughout the rehearsal process as well as other celebrities who were on the field the day of the show including Usher, Doja Cat, the Weekend and Ty Dolla $ign.

Wilhem concluded, “This experience was unlike any other, and it was so thrilling getting to walk onto the field when the crowd filled the stadium! All of the artists were super grateful and continuously thanked everyone for helping bring the show together. It was like getting paid to be in the front row for the Super Bowl Halftime Show!”

Tags: event, Orange County, Careers and Vocation, community

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