Dance Team hip hops to the top

Jamison Hanway Staff Reporter

Millard South’s Dance team’s perseverance, determination, and hard work has paid off, by bringing home the gold and winning their hip hop competition at the state contest in Grand Island.

Millard South’s Dance Team has competed at a high level in previous years as well and was ranked 6th in the nation for small varsity hip hop and 7th in the nation for small varsity pom in 2021.

With a year-long season, practices are a must, but it’s the bond the team shares that drives their success.

“Since our season is almost a whole year long, we start in the summer with mostly conditioning practices,” senior Lauren Linn said. “And once we learn our dances in August is when we really start working for our competition season,” she said. “Our first performance of our competition dances is normally early November, and we normally have 4-5 days of practice a week leading up to competitions. Once we have a big competition coming up we normally have longer practices on the weekends, and although those are some of the worst, they are the reason we are so good, and why we work so hard for the results we want at competitions.

With this much practice and training, along with traveling with each other, they create lasting friendships. The team works hard and builds each other up creating an amazing group filled with long lasting friendships.

“I met some of my best friends and people I would never have been around if I didn’t join dance team,” Linn said. “The bond that all the girls on dance team build together is unbreakable. We travel together, we cry together, we spend most of our high school years together,” she said.

These friendships are forged under hard work and sportsmanship in a supportive environment. When joining, Linn said she knew it was going to be difficult but she shined in success with her fellow teammates.

“I decided to join dance team because I always saw the older girls when I was little dancing and smiling at all school events, and I always wanted to be involved at my school, so I thought it would be a good challenge for me,” Linn said. Although it wasn’t the easiest road to get to where I am, as a senior leaving this team, I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything,” Linn said.

“I think it’s really important to have a relationship with your team, because it just makes the team stronger as a whole,” freshman Keira Parks said.

Being a senior this year, Linn and her fellow teammates stepped up and mentored the incoming freshmen, becoming a role model and better teammates.

“We had five seniors this year on our team and five new incoming freshmen joined our team as well. We are a super close team and that was a big thing for us seniors was to create that bond and mentorship between the underclassmen,” Linn said. The senior leadership within the Dance Team shined through and helped form this award winning team.

“They just really give us motivation and help us when we need it,” Parks said.

The dance team is a hard working and dedicated group that really shines because of the senior leadership that mentores the underclassmen.