The Brainerd Warriors dance team may have a smaller team this season and a third of it is rookies, but head coach Cindy Clough is anticipating a competitive season.
Clough said there are 27 girls on the team, but in a perfect world she’d prefer 32 members.
“A larger team looks better on the floor and allows more flexibility when choreographing and with subbing in due to illness and/or injuries,” said Clough. “We’ve been struggling with injuries, but we’ve been working on smoother formations so that should help the dancers move from place to place on the floor.
“It’s frustrating to have strong kids on the sidelines, but we are excited to get them back on the floor.”
The team’s Central Lakes Conference kick meet is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at St. Cloud Tech.
“The first meet always comes so early,” said Clough. “We really have to constantly work on our endurance to make it through the routine. The girls have been working hard building the endurance they need, to make sure they don’t get tired and sloppy at the end of the routine.”
The Warriors again will compete in high kick and jazz this season. Clough said the team is working on a new strategy in its kick routine that coaches hope will shock the other teams, giving Brainerd an edge at the later part of the season.
“It’s totally crazy and a lot of work, but in the end we hope it’ll pay off,” said Clough.
The kick routine is entitled “Girls,” which is a mix of songs about girls. The routine is three minutes and 17 seconds. The jazz routine is between two-and-a-half to three minutes long and is entitled “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” a jive style routine.
Clough said Benji Schwimmer from “So You Think You Can Dance” inspired the jazz routine.
“The jazz routine is aerobic and like ballroom dancing,” said Clough. “It’s very upbeat. It should be a judge and a crowd pleaser.
“The girls are enhancing their skills and taking a lot of ballet classes.”
The uniforms for both routines are from older uniforms that were redesigned.
Clough said the team has jelled nicely and the senior leadership is strong.
Seniors include Rachel Stout, Nichole Gervenak, Allie Spieker, Macy Anderson, Megan Marlatt, Gabby Metzger, Karyn Pieffer and Lizzy S aatoff.
The junior varsity has 19 members and the new coach is Amy Peeters, a 2005 BHS graduate and captain of the dance team.
Laura Rozinka, a 2005 BHS dance captain, is volunteering once a week.
The junior varsity team’s kick routine is Cagado.
JENNIFER STOCKINGER may be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851.
Comments (7)
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Why is this in the "Sports" section??
Dance Team is considered a
Dance Team is considered a sport by the Minnesota State High School League. The dancers work very hard and must be in excellent shape to do what they do. It is just as much as sport as any other activity available to students. I think they deserve the same regonition as other athletes in the "Sports" section. I am glad to see it here, finally!
Sports page coverage
From now on, the Brainerd Dispatch will put the high school dance competition coverage in the sports section as dance is a Minnesota State High School League sport. After listening to the concerns of many parents whom wanted the coverage on the sports page, the Dispatch decided that it was the right thing to do and it made sense.
Dance as a sport
I don't disagree that they work hard or that they have to be in shape. The MSHSL lists "activities" on their website, not sports. While dance is listed, so are debate, speech, music, one act play, and visual arts. I don't see those being covered in the sports section. I don't think you would have lost any readership by keeping dance out of the sports section. When the average reader turns to the sports page, they aren't expecting to see dance.
title nine
This law, Title Nine, has allowed schools to classify competitive dance with sports in order to reach compliance. Boys and girls are required to have the same or almost the same number of "sports" available for participation to make it fair and not gender based discrimination.
Some schools even classify competitive cheerleading as a sport. The federal courts have not ruled against these classifications.
That being said, where did they formerly place articles about dance competition? I like it on the sports page myself.
fbfan: change is not easy, is it? Where would you place the story?
(The background of the law is interesting to research. In the 1950s girls had no competitive sports in schools. Now they can become superstars!)
Does this discussion matter??
Privately owned newspaper decides to put the Dance Team news in the sports page, really is this something that needs to be argued about?