Distancing for the competition: Lancer dancers face challenges for their upcoming competition

In a typical year, the varsity Lancer Dancers compete in two local competitions during the school year, along with a national competition in Orlando, Fla. However, this year, due to COVID-19, they will only be competing in one competition which takes place Feb. 26-27 at Olathe Northwest High School. 

Masks will be required at all times — even when performing — and only one school is allowed in the building at a time. Due to this rule, each school will have to perform all of their routines back-to-back for the judges, rather than spread throughout the day.

The varsity team is performing a jazz, hip hop and pom dance at competition — with pom being completely new terrain for the team. Each two-minute dance is full of intricate cleaning points and tricks to appeal to the judges.

“With each dance, we try to jam-pack them with everything we can,” co-captain and senior Katie Reda said. “It’s gonna take a physical toll on us [to perform them back-to-back].” 

With only one competition opportunity for the year, there’s more stress on the team to perform their best and, compared to last year’s more relaxed atmosphere, there is heightened pressure now. The standard of having clean dances still remains, but the process of getting there is a challenge the team wasn’t used to facing.

“It’s really hard to do anything when we’re online and make sure everyone is synchronized and when people miss a day or are sick it’s hard for them to get caught up from just videos,” Reda said. 

In addition to the virtual class adaptation, the team had to alter their choreography to fit this year’s COVID-19 rules. Dancers are unable to touch each other while performing, restricting them from close formations, lifts and a kick dance. 

“We’ve been learning the choreography separately during class with a couple of practices all together during the week to fully do the dances,” varsity dancer and sophomore Kate Cronenwett said. 

The dance team has remained socially distant and worn masks during practices, but they’ve had less practice time than a typical season due to the remote schooling schedule, according to Reda, making it even harder to prepare for the competition. What used to be daily 7 a.m. practices, first hour class and a three-hour Thursday night rehearsal, has turned into in-person seventh hour cohorts once a week, two hours on Thursday night and Friday after school.

Most of the girls keep cameras off during class, and record themselves practicing the dances they focused on that day. They can then submit the videos on an app called ‘Band,’ to confirm they understand the cleaning and choreography, so that they will be ready for in-person practices.

“With online, you can practice, but you can’t really effectively practice so it’s hard for the whole team to be on the same page,” Reda said. 

Due to the lack of in-person practices, the team’s dynamic has shifted from a family-like feel in previous years to a more disconnected atmosphere. 

“In my past three years on the team, we were always together and so close knit and even though we are still close, it’s different not seeing each other all the time,” co-captain and senior Claire Baker said.

From an occasional dance party during rehearsal to a themed Webex class, the seniors have been looking for ways to keep up the morale of the team. Even with the unconventional year, the team aims to keep a positive mindset in the few normalities, like basketball game performances.

“In the first couple of months of Webex classes, we did costume days on Fridays where we had a theme like old dance costumes and we would dress up that day for the Webex meeting,” Baker said. 

For Baker and Reda, the season has been bittersweet with it being their senior year and missing out on some of their favorite parts of being on the team. 

“Knowing what I’m missing out on is the hardest part because I’ve been on varsity for the past two years and I’m so familiar with the fun moments,” Baker said. “It’s hard to have the months go by and not have those milestones that we usually have as a team together.” 

According to Reda, this year’s goal going into the competition is not a specific place, but just to put their best foot forward and put as much effort as possible into every one of their performances— even if it’s from a distance.