The Becker Dazzlers dance team hosted a Granite Ridge Conference jazz meet Thursday night and performed well, capturing second place behind St. Cloud Cathedral.

 

The varsity jazz team executed the many changes the team made over their short week of practice (school was cancelled Wednesday) and took home the second place spot in a four team invite. 

 

Zimmerman took third and Albany fourth.

 

The varsity team scored 312 points, which is six points higher than last year and just 43 points short of short of power house Cathedral's 355. 

 

“I am happy that we grew our score over last year and was hoping to hit a growth point in the double digits, but growth is growth and I will take it,” said Head Coach Laura Anderson. 

 

Anderson went on to say that while the Becker varsity jazz team increased its score over last year, Cathedral’s score dropped by 24, Zimmerman’s dropped by 15 and Albany’s dropped by 28. 

 

“This doesn't necessarily mean that each team didn't improve,” said Anderson,  “rather it means that the judges were a bit tougher this year than they were at the same competition last year. That makes our point gain all that more significant.”

 

The JV jazz team did equally as well, taking the second place spot in their event.  

 

“We were hoping to catch the Cathedral JV jazz team at the Rocori Invitational last weekend when we scored just seven points behind them,” said Anderson. “However, we scored just seven points behind Cathedral at this event as well.”

 

Anderson said she was very impressed with the performance the dancers gave Thursday night. 

 

“They had a lot of energy and really applied the corrections we had made earlier in the day,” she said. 

 

This year’s JV jazz team tallied 218 points, their highest point ranking this season. Last year, they took third place with a total of 209 points. 

 

“I am very inspired to continue to help this great group of athletes grow and improve the rest of this season,” said JV Coach Nadia Fischer Danziesen.

 

The Dazzlers competed against some of the toughest competitors in Minnesota last Saturday at the Rocori Dance Team Invitational including state dance team finalists such as Sartell, Cathedral and Rocori in the 21-team field.

 

The highlight for Becker was when their JV jazz team took second place in their event and took home not only “hardware” but also a Cold Spring Bakery cake. They performed to the song, “Clarity”.

 

“I am so thrilled that (our team) took second place,” saidCoach Nadia Fischer-Danziesen.  “We went against very challenging, well known teams, but it didn't stop the team from giving everything they had.” 

 

The JV jazz team scored six points better overall with five of those points coming in the category of “technique of turns”. 

 

“I was also extremely pleased with the JV kick performance that the athletes performed,” said Fischer-Danziesen. “While the team did not place, the athletes improved by 20 points from our last competition, which is outstanding progress over winter break.” 

 

Kick captain Heather Sanders approached Fischer-Danziesen after both routines and said, “Wow, JV had a really good day!” 

 

“And I completely agree with her,” said Fischer-Danziesen.

 

The varsity jazz team took the fourth place spot at the event performing to the song, “Bottom of the River”. 

 

“We continue to make changes to the choreography and formations in our routine,” said Anderson. “We took a few risks with formation changes and choreography for the tough field that we were up against and the team performed well overall.” 

 

Anderson said this is a competition that they have participated in the past years and have  tended to receive lower scores. 

 

“While we hit the fourth place spot, our scores dropped as compared to other competitions this season, but improved by 20 points as compared to last year at this same event,” she said. “This tells me that we need to really focus on our increased skill level and technique scores against the teams that traditionally advance to the state tournament.”

 

The Dazzlers varsity kick team placed fifth. 

 

“The dancers turned in a solid performance at this competition, but saw lower scores than expected,” said Coach Julie Baloun. “This event tends to be a low scoring event for us year after year, perhaps due to some strong competition from  state finalist teams like Sartell and Cathedral.” 

 

Becker’s strongest scores continue to come in the areas of difficulty of kicks, routine effectiveness and difficulty of choreography and combinations. 

 

“We will continue to clean and perfect the routine as well and look for ways to make it more dynamic,” said Baloun. “I don't believe we have reached our peak with this routine and our best is yet to come. This is a  routine that is at it's best when performed strong and confident!”

 

Up next, the Dazzler’s JV dance team will be performing at half time of the becker Bulldog boys' JV basketball game next Friday, Jan. 16. The varsity dance team will be performing at half time of the varsity boys' basketball game that same night. Saturday, the Dazzlers travel to Monticello.