The dance team won two second place trophies with its hip-hop and pom routines at the national cheer and dance competition in Hershey, Pennsylvania on April 21.
“It was really great bonding time for all of us,” sophomore Annie Bryan said.
The team performed two routines at the competition. Pom routines include elements of jazz dance, with the addition of pom-poms.
“We were judged by a panel of about ten judges who based their scores on our moves, our technique, our facials, our energy and our cohesion as a team,” junior Lexie Tsantes said.
Despite the team’s victory at national competition, the season was delayed due to the prior dance coach’s departure. The team held tryouts in December and began practicing in January.
“It affected the team in the sense that going into competition, the girls weren’t dancing as long as other teams did,” dance team head coach Ellen Lupton said. “We had to work hard to be as cohesive as the other teams and we only had two months for fundraising.”
In addition, the team’s delayed season hindered the team from performing at fall sport events such as football games and “many people didn’t get to see us perform this year,” Bryan said.
Nevertheless, Lupton’s dance background and previous experience in dance helped ease the transition and rebuild a strong and cohesive team.
“I was a dance major in college and I’ve been dancing since I was three. I’ve had experience teaching dance in college, which helped me easily facilitate practice with the girls,” Lupton said.
Practices were fast-paced once the team learned the routines.
“We had practice for two hours on Thursdays and Tuesdays,” sophomore Stephanie Durham said. “Also, the week before the competition we had practice almost every day and we practiced the weekend of the competition.”
Lupton focused on details that could make a difference between rankings at the competition.
“We worked on being very detail-oriented,” Lupton said.
Despite the team’s delayed season, it has continued to experience success.
“With all new choreography, mostly new dancers to the team, and a new coach, we have had a very successful season that reestablished the team altogether at Marshall,” Bryan said.