Better Not Bitter

The Lancer Dancers have decided they will be traveling to Orlando, Florida for the annual National Dance Alliance (NDA) Competition on Feb. 28 after debating whether to return due to last year’s drumline dance incident.

Last year the Lancer Dancers scored 94 out of 100 point possible for their hip-hop routine going into finals, three points ahead of the second place team.

According to Alexis “Bubba” Close, several judges changed their minds on the day of finals as they observed the dance, counting points off for the members of the drumline not dancing. The judges also counted points off for errors in the dance they hadn’t seen the first time, bringing their total score down from first to third place.

“It was just really disappointing to go into finals and not win when we were all so excited,” junior and varsity Lancer Dancer Sophie Lawrence said. “But it was still such a memorable experience.”

Although the drumline dance was an experience that the dancers will never forget, the outcome of nationals created an outlasting impression on the girls and especially Bubba, creating a big decision to make for this year.

“There was part of me that wanted to forget it and never come back,” Bubba said. “But there was this other part of me that said, ‘No way, I’m not going to turn and run with my tail between my legs, we are going to come back bigger and better with three dances.’”

Not only are the Lancer Dancers returning to nationals, but they are bringing three dances instead of two. They will be performing their first ever kick dance at nationals, along with the normal hip-hop and jazz routines.

Kick dances are fast-paced and known for their precision and uniformity. The intricate formation changes accompanied with long kick lines and unique kick sequences make this dance stand out from the other two dances.

To change up this fast-paced dance, the team has been working with a choreographer to an instrumental version of “Let it Go” so that the dance is slower and more lyrical, giving more chances for the team to attract attention to their new dance.

“It’s a lot more interesting in our opinion because it’s a slow dance,” Lawrence said. “But it has all the kick components that are required so we have a lot of tricks going on that really pull all our strengths together with our acrobats and turners.”

Leading up to their departure, the Lancer Dancers will continue their every day 7 a.m. practices along with adding several three hour evening and Saturday practices to make up for several girls who have been gone for illnesses, especially the flu.

According to Bubba, close to 13 out of 23 girls on the team have been gone over the last two weeks due to sickness.

“We do 10 minutes of conditioning at the beginning of practice, some days we do burpees and jumping jacks for a minute and push-ups and planks for a minute then rotate,” Lawrence said. “Even though people are sick, we just have to keep working hard to keep our endurance up since we leave so soon.”

As the Lancer Dancers leave for nationals on Wed. Feb. 28, their main goal going into the competition is to focus on the present and not look back at the results and incident of last year.

“Like our coach said, it’s going to be very challenging to make finals in all three dances,” senior and varsity captain Tinka McCray said. “But I think we just need to not let last year’s bitterness with drumline affect this year’s performance and have a refresh year.”