The Becker Dazzlers dance team competed last Saturday at the Alexandria Invitational.  

 

The team pulled off four solid, well-executed routines at this meet.

 

The Alexandria Invitational is a large competition hosting a 2A meet in the morning and a 1A meet in the afternoon. 

 

The varsity kick squad started the day for Becker and was the third team to perform.

 

“This meet had a fairly early start time and we performed early in the lineup,” said Coach Julie Baloun.  

 

The kick routine is a high -energy routine and the girls undoubtedly feed off the audience.  

 

“With the early start time, the atmosphere in the gym felt a little flat,” said Baloun. “However, the team did a really good job of selling the routine and keeping the energy up.” 

 

The coaches and athletes made a few changes to the routine and added a dancer to the formations this past week.  It was the first time they competed with the additional dancer on the floor. 

 

“They did a great job making the adjustments to the formations,” Baloun said.  “Our overall scores were very similar to our scores last week. We saw slight improvements in our scores in degree of accuracy and visual effectiveness and creativity.”  

 

Baloun said several of the teams competing Saturday are in their section and are perennial state tournament contenders. 

 

“So we will continue to look at ways to improve our scores leading up to the section tournament,” she said.

 

The Dazzler JV kick team entertained the crowd with their upbeat routine. 

 

"The team performed well against some very tough competition,”  said Coach Nadia Fischer-Danzeisen. “They have improved so much this season, but we are still looking for a mistake-free performance.” 

 

With only a few competitions left in the JV season, Fischer-Danzeisen says, “it's important we really stay focused and continue to work hard. I'm excited to see where this team can end up with a clean performance.”

 

“We are seeing some improvements in our timing as a team,” said Coach Fischer-Danzeisen. “Our focus now will be on cleaning our technique and improving our spacing in formations. We really want to take something from each competition and learn something new each time out so that we can end our season strong.”

 

Varsity jazz had one of their best performances of the season. 

 

“Their timing and execution of turns was much better today than it was last week,” said Baloun. “They really came together and danced as a team.”

 

The team, however, needed to make some last minute changes due to the illness of one of their athletes. 

 

“I was very impressed with the determination and focus they showed just thirty minutes before they needed to compete,” said Coach Fischer-Danzeisen. “They made the adjustments and increased their scores by 23 points overall.”

 

The team is now busy preparing for the Granite Ridge Conference Finals which will be held Jan. 21 at 6:30 p.m. at Becker High School. This competition will include teams from  Albany,  St Cloud Cathedral,  ,Zimmerman as well as the host team.