Dancers not only perform halftime performances during football and basketball games, but also compete against other schools in the area. Over the weekend the dance team traveled to Homestead for their first competition of the season. They placed first in the hip hop, pom, and medium lyrical categories, while also receiving second place in the jazz category. Kamryn Daughters also was awarded third place soloist and Carly Windham received fourth place soloist. Tabitha Bland shares her perspective about dance team competitions.

Q: What is difference between dance competitions and sideline dancing?

A: The dance team competitions are different from sidelines because we are competing against other teams rather than cheering on our sports teams.  We perform halftime routines for entertainment purposes and our competition routines for showcasing our skills and what we have worked hard to perfect.

Q: What goes into preparing for a competition?

A: Lots and lots of hard work and determination go into preparing for competition season. We practice a lot for both, but we learned our halftime routines very quickly then performed them, and continued to do this through football season. Competition dances, on the other hand, are much longer than the football routines. We learned our competition dances during the summer and have been practicing and tweaking them since then.

Q: How many routines do you perform at a competition?

A: This competition season we are competing five group dances and multiple solos.

Q: How often do you practice your comp routines versus halftime performances?

A: We practice competition dances more than halftime routines. We have been practicing the

competition dances since the beginning of this school year.

Q: Do you perform your halftime performances for competitions as well?

A: No, because we like to keep our routines separated between halftime and competition.

Q: Do you wear your dance team uniform or other outfits?

A: The costuming decisions that have been announced so far are not our uniforms but other costumes corresponding to each dance. My favorite costume is our lyrical costume for the dance “Listen.” It is a beautiful navy blue lace dress. I love it because it looks so elegant on stage.

The next dance team competition is Feb. 4 and is a maroon out X-factor event at Bella Vista.

by MADILYN SINDELAR