WESTFORD — When basketball takes a time out, Rebecca Cross steps onto the court with her baton and twirling routine ready.
The Westford Academy junior has been performing self-choreographed baton routines during halftime at the boys and girls basketball games since her sophomore year. This is an unexpected sight in a high school without a formal twirling program.
“There’s just so much excitement and enthusiasm from audiences that don’t get the opportunity to see baton twirling often,” Cross said, “They think it’s the coolest thing.”
Cross, who has been twirling since she was five, created the opportunity herself. After finding out that there was no formal outlet for baton twirling at WA, she approached Athletic Director Jeff Bunyon with the idea and sent him a two-minute routine. After seeing Cross’s abilities, Bunyon decided she would follow the cheerleaders’ routines at the basketball games with her baton twirling act.
During her sophomore year, she performed at four basketball games to Jennifer Lopez’s “Let’s Get Loud.” This year, she returned with a routine set to “Fireball” by Pitbull.
Each routine is entirely her own creation.
“I choreograph it myself, I cut the music myself, I decide how many batons and what equipment I’m going to use,” she said, “It’s just super cool to see everybody else in the audience get excited about it, too.”
Cross trains and competes with an award-winning baton team based in Chelmsford, attending regular practices and working on increasingly difficult skills.
One of her most challenging accomplishments, she said, was mastering a three-baton “box toss” combination, a juggling-style sequence that took nearly two years to perform consistently.
But competition isn’t her favorite part.
“Competing is awesome and super fun,” Cross said, “But I just like performing more. I like the reaction from the audience.”
Cross is also a vocalist and active in the school’s theater department, skills she says directly influence her twirling.
“I really like telling a story,” she said, “I feel like I can express myself and do this very exciting and cool thing that I created all by myself.”
She credits her acting background with helping her add facial expressions and emotion to routines, transforming technical tricks into performances. Dance techniques from musical theater also overlap with baton fundamentals, she said, strengthening both skill sets.
Cross first became interested in baton after watching twirlers at the annual Apple Blossom Parade as a child.
“When I was four, I was like, ‘Mom, I want to chuck the sticks in the air like those girls,’” Cross said.
She began with a trial class and has been twirling ever since.
One of her most memorable experiences came freshman year when she joined her team’s travel squad and competed in Twirlmania in Florida. The group earned multiple first-place finishes and also had the opportunity to march down Main Street at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom after being selected to perform.
“It was such a great experience, twirling at Disney World,” she said, “ Especially with my teammates, as a group.”
As she looks ahead to college, Cross hopes to continue twirling, possibly as a featured collegiate twirler like friends who now perform at their universities.
Beyond performing, she hopes to coach one day, drawing inspiration from her own mentor. Cross credits her coach, Alanna Grondine, as a major influence in her life, saying Grondine played a pivotal role in shaping her into the performer she is today.
“She’s been such an amazing coach for me,” Cross said. “I feel like I’d like to be that for somebody else.”
Like many performers, Cross feels her nerves begin to surface just before she takes the stage or the court. However, Cross says it helps her to take a deep breath and visualize the routine going perfectly. Once the performance begins, it’s just Cross, the music and a baton.
“It’s really scary, really thrilling, really exciting and awesome,” she said. “When I’m performing, I just kind of absorb all of the cheers and the happiness coming from the crowd and put that into my energy.”
For students unfamiliar with baton twirling, Cross offers simple advice: give it a whirl.
“It’s a really fun, really cool thing,” she said. “Just go for it.”
