When many think of dance they think of glitter, shiny pom poms and bright smiles. But what they don’t see is the behind-the-scenes work. The late night practices, days spent learning choreography and countless hours of cleaning.
That behind-the-scenes hard work is what led Lisbon Dance to the Class 1 Kick Champion title at the Iowa State Dance Team Association State Competition last year. As they set their eyes on state this year, they look to earn that title again.
“Winning state last year made us really want to do it again this year. We have a lot of motivation to go back and get first place again because we know we can do it,” said senior Kaitlyn Silver.
In order to claim the first-place trophy again the girls know they’ll need to put their best foot forward, not only on competition day, but also during those practices leading up to state.
“We’re really focused on cleaning right now. We have a lot of new girls, too, so it’s getting them into the groove of it all. A lot of us didn’t grow up dancing, so there’s a lot of certain technique we have to teach everyone. We all have to work together to make sure we look like one” said senior Britton Mason.
The weeks before state are some of the most intense practices of the year, but the dancers know their work pays off in the end.
“This last month leading up to state is where you see a majority of the growth. We’ll go from not good at all to super clean right before state. So, though it’s stressful right now, we just have to trust the process because we know we always get there,” says Mason.
As practices intensify, so do emotions. Nerves build up, but so does excitement.
“We’re mostly just feeling excitement and anticipation. I think we have a really good shot at winning both routines if we really lock in this year. We have a really good opportunity to win, we just need to take advantage of it,” said senior Lynnlee Caspers.
In its 50 years the Iowa High School Dance Team Association State Competition has become the largest and most prestigious school dance team competition in the state. Taking place at the Casey’s Center every year it gives teams the opportunity to showcase their work in a large and exciting atmosphere.
“We work really, really hard all year for the opportunity to compete at ISDTA and we know it’s our chance to show what we work for,” said senior Alexa Roos.
“The environment at the Casey’s Center and you hear the music going and the crowd cheering. We just know it’s our time to show what we’ve been working for,” said senior Jordin McFarlane.
While the team competes at other competitions outside of ISDTA, for them state is the one that really counts.
“At other competitions we go against way bigger schools than us, but when we get to state we understand we’re with people who are on our level now and we have better confidence, we know we’ll do our best and we know that we’re capable of performing really well,” said Mason.
The team competes at the ISDTA State Championships at the Casey’s Center in Des Moines on December 4. Their pom routine competes at 10:49 a.m. with their kick routine to follow at 6:39 p.m.