Seniors Charlotte Michael and Bridget Marty both want to own every dance movement and put on a show in what they hope will not be their last dance.
For two of Verona Area Wildcat Dance team’s trio of captains, they don’t want any regrets to creep in as they pursue an opportunity to perform in the Super Bowl of dance – state on Friday, Jan. 31, and Saturday, Feb. 1, at the La Crosse Center. The Verona dance team is gearing up to perform Pom, Kick and Hip Hop dance routines in the Wisconsin Varsity Southern Regional on Saturday, Jan. 25, at Middleton High School.
Michael, who will attend Minnesota State University in Mankato next fall and major in Business, said she wants to open a dance studio, coach and work with high school and collegiate dance teams.
“Every competition is a stepping stone for the team’s journey to the regional and hopefully to state,” Michael said. “I think as a team if we can keep pushing ourselves, we put ourselves on a new level at Kiel.”
Being a dancer for the Wildcats is a commitment. The team starts practicing in the fall and performs at football games to various routines they develop. If dancers from football want to continue, the VAHS competition dance team is more rigorous with practices, performs at halftime of six basketball games and competes in competitions throughout the winter, culminating in regional and state. The Verona competition dance team has 12 dancers and they are led by coach Tera Kjendlie, who helps them fine-tune various dance styles, performances and choreography.
Camaraderie is one of the big draws for Marty for being on the dance team.
“It’s like they are all my sisters,” she said. “Everyone makes me feel like I belong and I should be there.”
Marty, who will attend a to be determined college to major in Business, said she wants to become a real estate agent and her dream job is to become a pro dancer for an NFL team.
Each dance style – Hip Hop, Kick, Pom are judged on a 10-point scale in 10 categories ranging from unity, synchronization, technique of the dance, difficulty with tricks incorporated and costumes, Michael said. The best score a team can achieve is 100.
The Wildcats finished first overall in Division 1 Kick in Kiel several weeks ago. Verona took second in its Pom dance and third in Hip Hop.
Verona scored an average of 78 out of 100 from the judges for their Hip Hop dance in Kiel. It was at that point they were determined to push for a higher score.
Verona finished second in Division 1 Hip Hop (76.5), third in Kick (75.35) and fifth in Pom (75.65) in the Menomonee Falls Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 11.
“Our coach always says every performance counts and matters,” Marty said.
Marty said in the Hip Hop style, judges look to make sure teams are committed to the culture and movements of that dance.
Watertown won the Division 1 Hip Hop state title last year. Hudson won the Division 1 Kick state championship and Franklin won the Pom championship.
Michael said usually about half or the top four teams in a dance style from each regional based on the number of entries advance to state.
She doesn’t want to think about the numbers game heading into the regional.
“There are a lot of great dance teams in our regional,” Michael said. “I think if we can keep our unity and keep pushing ourselves we can be one of those teams that makes it to state.”
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