The Dazzlers, Becker Bulldogs’ competitive dance team, kicked off their season a couple weeks ago with two varsity showcases, the first hosted by the Bulldogs and the second at Sartell High School. 

 

“We’ve been working on, and will continue to work on, mastering our mind and our emotions to stay in the moment to ensure we’re putting the best performance out there every time,” says Head Coach Nadia Fischer-Danzeisen.

 

Although this is her first season as sole head coach of the Dazzlers, Danzeisen has been with the team since 2014, first working with the JV team and then co-coaching varsity with Julie Baloun. She grew up dancing with her varsity dance team and went on to dance at St. Cloud State University.

 

“The team is strong in their endurance and ability to adapt and change with the choreography,” said Danzeisen. “Due to having so many strong kick technicians, we have chosen to forgo a JV kick team and combine as one big varsity team. So far, it appears it’s playing to our favor. We’re hopeful that we’ll yield big results this year.”

 

Try-out choreography for the 30-member team began Oct. 8 with actual practice beginning Oct. 22. Since then, the team has been practicing Mondays and Wednesdays before school and after school Mondays through Fridays with help from Assistant Coach Megan Timm.

 

Morgan Peterson is the only senior on the team as well as senior captain.

 

“Morgan has been a great addition to our team,” said Danzeisen. “I always love watching seniors practice because what they’re fighting for finally feels real.

 

Seniors just have this way of pushing so much harder than they did before, caring so much about the details and wanting that trip to state more than words can describe. I’m really hoping we can make that happen for Morgan this year.”

 

The team’s first competition, which will be at Eastview High School Dec. 8, is one of the hardest of the season. Eastview is hosting 14 teams during the competition, including Sartell High School, who has won kick the last two years, Totino Grace High School, who was kick second runner-up, and jazz champion Benilde St. Margaret’s High School.

 

“Varsity jazz is in a strong lead for our section and we’re hoping to take the Becker dance team to their first ever state tournament,” said Danzeisen. “I always think the challenging thing about dance team is that everyone needs to have a perfect run at the same time, there’s no time outs and no substitutions. There’s only one shot to get it perfect.”

 

Last year’s varsity jazz team finished fourth at the 4AA section meet, their highest finish ever there, just missing a trip to state.

 

“My expectation for the season is that we continue to make improvements, work together as a team and use the momentum we picked up last year with varsity jazz taking fourth at sections,” said Danzeisen. “The top three teams qualify for the state tournament so I’m anxious to see how this season shakes out.”