The St. Michael-Albertville dance team may only be in year two of existence, but it’s gaining attention for some standout performances.
The team has competed six times so far this season, and the varsity team has placed first during three out of the four conference meets. They took home the conference championship for their Kick routine at the conference championship meet earlier this month. Mississippi 8 Conference meets consist of Kick and Jazz competitions.
Head coach Jennifer Klemmensen said they competed in one invitation in Lakeville and took 6th place of 17 teams, and the JV team has also seen a lot of success, with four first-place finishes at conference meets.
“It’s been really great ,” said freshman dancer Grace Lee. “We have practice every day after school and we’ve gotten first with kick about four times and two or three times with jazz. It’s just really fun! ”
Looking Forward to the Lake
The STMA dance team will still be a fairly new team when they move into Lake Conference competition next year, and Klemmensen said they are both nervous and excited for the change.
“Nervous because the Lake conference has amazing teams in it that continually go to State each year,” she said. “As a new program that is starting out that could be intimidating.”
However, she said the team is also excited to compete against and learn from these strong teams.
“I think strong competition just makes your team fight harder, learn more and only get better,” Klemmensen said. “It should be a fun season next year, and we’re looking forward to it.”
Home Invitational Coming Up
The team is looking forward to invitational competition to come this season, including a home invitational on Saturday, Jan. 19 at the high school. Competition begins at 10 a.m.
“We would love everyone to come out and watch some amazing dancing,” Klemmensen said.
Activities director Keith Cornell also sang the team’s praises, saying they’ve had a great second season so far.
“They’ve worked incredibly hard throughout this season and the off-season,” he said. “We are excited to see how their season goes now that the conference season is over and they go to invites.”
