To our school, the dance teams are seen at all sporting events, providing the O-Zone with a bit of extra spirit. On most weekends, the Junior Varsity and Varsity teams compete in many national and local invitationals throughout their season that paves their way to Nationals.

KHSAA State Champions, our very own Highlands Dance team, took on their first competition of the 2019 year this past Saturday (January 12) at the Seton Invitational. There were about 20 other teams who competed. Out of those 20 teams, consisting of either dance studios or other high school/middle school teams, each was allowed two dances: Hip Hop and Pom.

At the Varsity level, out of the four teams in hip-hop, Highlands placed 3rd, while for Pom they placed 2nd out of the three teams. Despite it being the Birds first time performing a hip hop routine at a competition., they did well enough to earn the Best Choreography Trophy.

Senior, Hannah Schwalbach, plans on striving for first.

She wants the teams to continue their hard work and go through practices by “adding more tricks for their hip-hop routine.”

To her, the overall goal would be to make the top 10 in Pom at Nationals. “Last year, the team came so close to winning but didn’t. Since we came so close to first last year in hip-hop, we plan on working our way up to first this time around.”

For the Birds, this process is a lengthy one. Practices can range up to 4 hours. However, Junior Varsity has the honor of an additional morning practice during the week.

In terms of JV’s performance, Hip Hop was, and is, seen as their strongest dance. Because tryouts were so late in the year, the team felt as if they weren’t as prepared with Pom as they were with Hip Hop. However, they definitely could have perfected it if they had more time.

Senior Megan Ellison, JV captain, said that “The main reason Pom wasn’t our best was due to it needing a lot of stamina and strength to pull it off.”

“We needed more time to get used to how hard a dance is and we just didn’t have that.”

For her, being a senior on the team means that she “needs to make sure the girls are prepared and at practice on time.”

If anyone on the team needs help with anything, she is there for them, and vice-versa. “We all work together to reach our end goal: winning state and upping our score each time we compete to get better and better.” 

From here, the Birds will venture onto their next competition, which will take place next weekend on the 19th of January. This will be a regional competition allowing them to qualify for state. With two more competitions left, the Oak Hills Invitational and State, Varsity looks for qualification for Nationals in February.