Page 10 THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 2024 EVERETT KIWANIS 38th ANNUAL FRANK E. WOODWARD GOLF TOURNAMENT!!! Supporting Scholarships for Everett High School Students Register online to play and to buy tee box signs at www.everettkiwanisgolf.com Date: July 26, 2024 Time: 7:00AM Registration – 8:00 AM Shotgun Start Location: Mount Hood Golf Course – 100 Slayton Rd. Melrose, MA Fee: $150.00 per golfer – includes 18-hole best ball scramble format, cart, greens fees, lunch, and prizes Please buy a tee box sign for $125.00 per hole Questions: Contact David LaRovere at david@larovere.com or 617-387-2700 Online registration gives option to be invoiced or pay online Raising hope and raising the bar: Inside Phunk Phenomenon’s winning year By Dom Nicastro F or Saugus’ Reia Briggs-Connor, it’s been a stellar 2024 for her Phunk Phenomenon Dance Complex studio. A national championship and preparations for an international competition later this year are just part of the excitement. Oh, and don’t forget about their performances on the Boston Celtics dance fl oor during the NBA Finals this month. Good times for the studio? You bet. Briggs-Connor, a lifelong dancer from her early days in Chelsea to being a New England Patriots cheerleader and now a 25-plus-year dance studio owner in Everett, is nonstop and loving every minute of it. This is all in between her constant, unconditional care for her 19-year-old son, Jared, who has Sanfi lippo syndrome. This condition halts normal brain development and causes hyperactivity, sleep disorders, loss of speech, dementia and typically results in death before adulthood. Her dance studio leads a fundraising and awareness effort called “Hip Hop for Hope” to contribute to research and development in the healthcare community for Sanfi lippo syndrome. The fi ght for Jared and others like him is deeply embedded into the fabric of all that BriggsConnor does within her studio and for her dancers. Some proceeds go to the fi ght to fi nd a cure for Sanfi lippo syndrome. “I don’t sleep,” Briggs-Connor tells people when they ask how she does it. “It’s crazy. Everyone asks how we do it. Jared’s 19 now, which is really great because they told us he wouldn’t live that long. We’re constantly trying to raise awareness for his disease and our mission.” They’ve had a gig with the For Advertising with Results, call The Advocate Newspapers at 781-286-8500 or Info@advocatenews.net Celtics for most of the 21st century, performing routines a couple of times per night during timeouts for two to three games per month. They performed in Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals, where her hometown Celtics beat the Mavericks, 4-1, clinching Banner No. 18, under which Phunk Phenomenon will perform next season. They also performed in early games of the Celtics’ dominating playoff performance, where they finished 16-3. Performing during a Celtics championship run was simply priceless for Briggs-Connor and her studio. The entire experience was steeped in Boston spirit. Donnie Wahlberg, New Kids on the Block legend and actor whom BriggsConnor has known over the years through mutual dance contacts, provided her dancers with shirts to wear during performances. As glamorous as it all sounds — she has also taught Red Sox legend David Ortiz’s daughters and had Shaquille O’Neal hang out with her team during the NBA Finals — this is serious work for BriggsConnor. She wants the routines to be fl awless while performing in front of a sold-out, 19,600-people arena. “I defi nitely do put pressure on myself,” Briggs-Connor said. “And I try to think what’s going to be the best option to keep this crowd up, especially because they’re going to be hot the whole time. It’s almost like they don’t even need entertainment because they’re all in it. The crowd is already loud. So, I try to keep the music to match that, obviously taking what they love like ‘Shipping up to Boston’ and keeping it in the theme of Boston. And then Donnie Wahlberg, he sponsored the team with these beautiful New Kids on the Block Boston shirts. So, I did a nice tribute piece to the Boston boy bands to keep the crowd pumped for everything that comes from Boston and keep that luck flowing. That was my idea of what I went into this year.” The NBA Finals appearance for her younger dancers — called Lil Phunk and ranging in ages from fi ve to 13 — was a crowning moment much like the Boston Celtics’ championship. Her dancers have been hard at work at their craft, and they now got to shine on an international stage right in the TD Garden, which they’ve called home for decades. The studio prides itself on “urban dance,” and Briggs-Connor describes it as a “non-traditional dance studio.” Their mission? To connect with youth through the art of urban dance. “Hip Hop is not just a dance; it is a culture containing fi ve elements,” according to the mission statement on the studio’s website. “Our goal is to educate
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