Rosa Repke

Editorial & Opinion Editor

The Orono Girls Dance team is close, perhaps one of the tightest among Orono sport teams. It comes as no surprise that part of the team’s success comes from the tight bond the girls share.
After ending their season with a finish the team can certainly be proud of at the section competition on Feb. 5 (held at Delano High School), the girls are realizing how different the rest of their school years will be. “We spend a lot of time together,” senior dancer Lara Price said.

“We practice five nights a week and dance at basketball games as practice where we warm-up, stretch, do kick, fix things and then have team dinners and sleepovers. We hang out a lot.”
Becoming closer was something the team wanted to work harder on this year and reevaluating their goals. “This year, especially, we really focused on dancing for each other and dancing as one. We knew how to pump each other up before we danced and performed ,” senior dancer Alyssa Melco added. “My favorite part is the bond we formed.”
It’s not always easy for sport teams to share the kind of bond the dance team does. Stress of school and packed schedules can fuel tension and disconnection within teams.
The girls dealt with this by figuring out what they had to do to make sure they stayed positive and close. “We do cheers during practice and scream for each other to pump each other up,” Price said. “Dance is the most team-oriented sport because in other sports you need someone to pass a ball to, however you don’t need the whole team, but in dance team you need all your teammates just to get to dance. We have our strong bond because we have literally shared blood, sweat and tears.” Senior Captain, Carli Daly also added, “There were no cliques in the team and hardly any drama. We always say dance team is more than a sport, it’s a family of sisters and I really believe that.”
Pumping each other up and staying positive is crucial because all-day events and competitions can be exhausting.. “We get there early and do marking first, which means practicing both dances in the gym and setting up our steps in the correct places, then we do makeup, practice some more, stretch and warm up,” Price explained. “We perform high kick and jazz and sometimes have free time in between. Then we go to awards when every team has performed.”
Dance teams are scored based on strict criteria for each dance; approximately 6 judges have scoring sheets and scores are averaged together.  The score sheet categories include: routine effectiveness, presentation, technique, degree of skills, performance, and uniformity (a complete list of scoring criteria can be found at MSHSL.org).
The team’s biggest competitions going into Feb. 5 were Marshall and Holy Angels. “We were very confident going in, however  we hadn’t competed against either team yet during the season,” Melco said. “We didn’t know how well they had done this year so far and at that point we didn’t know how we compared to them.” Despite not advancing to state, the team has no regrets.
“We felt great about both dances.  We felt it was our best high kick performance (super high energy and accuracy are crucial) and we were fairly confident about jazz as well.  Even though we didn’t advance, we did our absolute best and we’re not disappointed,” Melco revealed.
It isn’t hard to realize that the team’s bond isn’t manufactured or forced; it comes easy and is genuine. The girls are happy for each other and supportive. The season wasn’t plagued with drama or tension that teams have been known to have.
The dance team is driven, positive and full of hard-core athletes. Dancing in front of huge crowds of strangers, with the pressure of perfection is in not a piece of cake, yet the team has managed to handle it with grace. “Before Orono is called out to the floor, we are just so excited to dance that our nerves go away.
I’m going to miss the pure excitement of performing and the energy our team feels out on the floor. At the end of the day, we are all sisters with a common passion and I loved going to practice everyday to share that passion with them,” Melco said with big smile. And Daly agreed, “now that the season is done I feel like something missing in my life without having these girls around me all the time. In reality, I don’t think I’m ever going to stop missing it.”