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Colleens Win Two State Dance Divisions
Lola Peterson staff writer
Saturday, March 18 was the first day of the dance state championship and Sheldon Colleens left that night with first place in two divisions, winning 6A jazz and kick. Freshman dancer Shayna Hogue said, “I felt very accomplished that all the hard work paid off.” The Colleens practiced five to six days each week. Their practices involved hours of them going through and fixing up the routines to make them perfect for state. Kick, one of the dances performed at state, was a Top Gun-themed dance in which they dressed up in Top Gun outfits. Their dances and routines took them months of practice before going to state.
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The day before the competition was filled with early morning practice.
After a two hour practice of running through the competition dances and getting feedback, the team traveled to Salem, and after dropping stuff off they went to see and support the 1A5A teams compete. “When watching, I was feeling partly excited and nervous,” said Hogue.
The day of the competition was filled with excitement and nervousness. The team spent time preparing physically and mentally before performing their first dance. Freshman dancer Ilikea Howerton said, “We had to prepare mentally for state because it was the last time we could dance with the seniors.” This competition was the last time the team would dance with the seniors before they graduated.
The first dance to perform was the 6a jazz dance. “There was a big gap between our first and second dance,” said dancer Howerton. When preparing for the competition the team would take breaks in between practice and made sure that they ate well and drank lots of water before the competition. If they didn’t drink water before the competition they could get muscle cramping and their endurance can decrease. All of their hard work paid off when they were given two first-place awards for two of their dances.
Senior dancer Elsa Peterson said “After winning state, I was proud of my teammates for working so hard and toughing out through all their injuries so that we could put our best performance on the floor. Being on that huge stage was kind of like a way to say we finally made it.” All of Colleen’s hard work really paid off.
