Fresh on the Floor: The Lancer Dancers are now allowing freshmen on Varsity, which has brought a new atmosphere to the team

When freshmen Clara Burdick, Grace Demetriou, Lola Condon, Lucy Wolf and Parker Paben each stepped onto the East parking lot’s black pavement for a Varsity dance party, they had no idea what exactly being on dance team would look like. They’d just received an official “welcome to VARSITYYYYY!!!” text, telling them to meet in the parking lot immediately.

The dance party was created as a way to welcome the freshmen — who were the first to ever be on Varsity. In previous years, the Varsity Lancer Dancers team has only consisted of sophomores, juniors and seniors while freshmen were only able to make Junior Varsity at best.

East was one of the last SMSD schools to finally allow freshmen to be grouped with all other dancers due to past SMSD regulations of having freshmen make JV prior to Varsity. 

Dance team coach of 11 years Alexis Close, also known as Bubba, had been thinking about changing the rule for some time now. She thought it made more sense to group together the highest level dancers, regardless of their grade.

“I just felt like I had a really welcoming, kind and inclusive group of seniors coming this year and thought it was time,” Close said. “When I saw the seniors organized a dance party in the East parking lot, it warmed my heart and I knew I made the right decision.”

While Close doesn’t think the team dynamic has changed much, if at all, it’s clear that having freshmen who’ve never experienced a school dance team brought out more leadership and responsibility for the upperclassmen.

To help make the transition easier, senior and Varsity captain Finley Condon initiated bonding activities for the team with senior co-captains Kay Kay Winn and Sydney Beck such as dance parties, team sleepovers and Starbucks trips.

“The night the lists were sent out, I organized a dance party in the parking lot to just welcome the new dancers,” Finley said. “Since my sister is one of the freshman, I picked her up and her friends and it was just a nice way to get to know everyone.”

Finley’s younger sister, Lola, is one of the five freshmen who made Varsity this year. While they already had a sisterly bond, being Lancer Dancers together made them even closer — from seeing each other in class three days a week to Thursday practices to running routines at home and making sure they both hit every beat. 

While the Condon sisters became tighter, the team as a whole is closer than ever, despite the variety of ages and grades within the four walls of their dance room. After officially starting learning routines and how drill team works in June at overnight camp, the girls now go out to eat, have team sleepovers and hangout as friends outside of team related events.

When the freshmen first joined the team, it was hard to not stay in their isolated freshmen corner and talk to themselves. However, the outgoing and welcoming environment made their bonding natural. 

While Clara says she’s naturally outgoing and has her sister, junior Adya Burdick, on Varsity with her, she’s grateful to have welcoming upperclassmen to make her feel comfortable as a newbie.

“I think it is really easy for upperclassmen to just stare at you or not talk back to you, but drill team isn’t like that,” Burdick said. “They go out of their way to come talk to us and it has made dance team and East as a school easier.”

The five freshmen already knew each other through Indian Hills Middle School, but had no idea they’d bond so tightly so fast. With little knowledge of each other, besides Parker and Lola previous studio dance relationship, none of them had touched a flag, danced on the sideline of a football game or experienced a team like East’s Varsity drill team.

“[Being the only freshmen] for sure brought us closer, especially at the beginning of the year before we had really met everyone,” Demetriou said. “We would talk to everyone then kind of find our way back to our little group.”

The five freshmen walk into every class, practice and game, feeling like they’ve known every girl on the team forever. Not only did they make Varsity dance team, but they also joined a new community who loves to dance just as much as they do.