Saugus’ Blue Heat Concludes 2024 Season With a Win

After a short two-month competition season, Saugus High School’s Show Choir team, Blue Heat, walked away in April with a first-place finish out of seven groups in the mixed division tier IV at the John Burroughs Music Showcase 2024 in Burbank. It was the team’s second first-place placement this season.
“I’m so proud of this group. I’ve seen so much growth,” exclaimed Jamie McMahon, the team’s choreographer. “It was really the icing on the cake to finish the season with first place, including awards for best music and best show.”
Nearly three dozen students, from freshman to seniors, make up the team and participate in show choir as a high school class. Blue Heat typically attends competitions in the spring.
Senior Keona O’Rourke, who has been on the team for three years, has witnessed the group’s progress and said the first-place finish was very satisfying. “We’ve fixated on new ways to improve and it’s shaped us to be better than I’ve seen in the past three years.”
Blue Heat’s competition set involved singing and dancing to a 15-minute routine arranged to Britney Spears hits. Specifically, the 2024 theme was “centered around a star named Lucky who isn’t sure the attention she’s getting is really what she wants.” 
Sophia Kovacs, a sophomore who joined Blue Heat this year, also commented on the team’s growth. “We have all improved tremendously with our vocals and everyone’s dancing has become so much stronger,” she shared.
Blue Heat will make one final performance of its set at the high school’s May choir concert for friends and family. The group is directed by Kaitlin Pi, who has overseen the choir program at the high school since 2019.