The Becker Dazzlers have 21 JV and varsity dancers on this year’s team and one less coach.

 

Laura Anderson made an abrupt decision just before the season started to step down as head coach and also pulled her daughter, Madison, from the program.

 

No official reason was given for the departure other than the balance between coaching and work and commuting was too much for the popular head coach.

 

That decision meant Assistant Coaches Julie Baloun and  Nadia Fischer-Danielson needed to quickly put together their program and roster with the upcoming season just around the corner. They’ve been able to do it, and the team looks poised and ready to compete with some of the best teams in the state.

 

“We’ve figured out how to make things work with one less coach,” said Baloun.

 

The Dazzlers will have lots of new faces on the floor and they are excited to show off their new style and substance when the season started Nov. 21 at Sartell-St. Stephen. The girls — donning their dazzling new uniforms — impressed their promoted coaches with an upbeat routine in kick and a slower, more sentimental routine in kick.

 

The MSHSL also instituted new changes to routines to make it so the time limits for both jazz and kick are relatively the same duration. In years past, the kick routine could go for three-to-four minutes where starting this year it’ll need to be in the 2-1/2 to three minute range.

 

Baloun says her biggest challenge so far this year has been getting the team to meld and learn to dance together since she inherited a relatively young squad. When Anderson departed, a few other prominent dancers decided to leave the team and Baloun and Fischer-Danielson have been scrambling to piece together a squad worthy of competing in this year’s tough conference and sections.

 

“Laura (Anderson) is self-employed and lives near St. Cloud, so the challenge to be available for coaching a team must have been difficult,” said Baloun.

 

“Although we had no idea she was considering stepping down, I guess I can understand.”

 

Baloun was on her dance line team when she attended Melrose High School years ago and she first came to coaching when she was asked by Anderson if she’d like to help out, seeing that she had two girls in the dance program.

 

“I know I thought about coaching way back when I was dancing myself, but I wasn’t sure if it was something I wanted to do at the time she asked me. But since I was going to be at just about every practice and meet because of my girls, I decided to give it a try.”

 

Julie is the wife of Becker Police Chief Brent Baloun and she also works at the BCC.

 

Now she is in the lead spot on a varsity program and she promises to do her very best to make the girls shine. So will Fischer-Danielson.

 

Fischer-Danielson was once part of the Fergus Falls Otter Fury Dance Team from 2009-13 and has been instrumental in bringing fresh ideas to the team and certainly enthusiasm. She joined the coaching staff at Becker a few years ago and is a graduate of SCSU where she studied behavioral psychology.

 

The Dazzlers finished sixth in the Section AA tournament at Big Lake last year in both kick and jazz. Throughout the year, the Dazzlers hold camps for youth dancers and also donate their skills to area events for entertainment including the Chamber Expo and Freedom Days.

 

The Dazzlers’ team captains this year are senior Mikayla Hinkemeyer and sophomore Morgan Meyer.

 

The Dazzlers are comprised of 11 girls  on varsity kick and jazz. Coaches Baloun and Fischer-Danielson give the girls direction, but input from the captains is essential for the team where Henkemeyer and Meyer choose the music and routines the girls are expected to perform.

 

The Dazzlers have one scheduled home meet, Jan. 21 against St. Cloud Cathedral, Zimmerman and Albany, but they also get plenty of invites during the basketball season to show off their skills during halftimes of many boys and girls Bulldog basketball games.

 

The technique and skill levels required for varsity and JV teams has significantly elevated over the years. 

 

For varsity jazz, complex leaps and turns are essential for the team’s scores as judges look at more than uniformity. The athletes are continually challenged both in endurance and skill level with each season's choreography.

 

In varsity kick, the kick combinations and transitions are more complex as Becker continues to strive to be at the same level or higher than some of the more prestigious dance team schools.  

 

“It’s our jobs as coaches to get the girls ready to perform and to help them not dance ‘scared’”, said Baloun. “We want the girls to dance with real smiles on their faces because they happen to love to dance.”