The Becker Dazzlers varsity and JV dance teams traveled to Albany High School last Thursday to compete in a Granite Ridge Conference kick event.
Both squads finished in second place in a field of four schools (Zimmerman, Albany and St. Cloud Cathedral).
“I am very happy with our varsity high kick team's second place finish at the Granite Ridge Kick Conference meet,” said Coach Julie Baloun. “We had a challenging week of practice with several girls ill and unable to practice.”
The team actually competed with two fewer girls than they had previously.
“This meant that several girls had to switch formations or learn new parts,” she continued. “I am proud of how they handled the changes and really pulled it together to put in a strong performance.”
St Cloud Cathedral, who is a state finalist year-after-year took home the top prize.
“We were able to outscore both Zimmermann and Albany in almost every category,” Baloun said. “We are still looking to increase our scores in technique, height of kicks, placement and control. Our top scores were again in the categories of difficulty of kicks, difficulty of choreography and combinations and routine effectiveness.”
Also impressed with the results was JV Coach Nadia Fischer-Danzeisen, whose JV squad also took second out of three teams.
“I was very impressed at how well the JV high kick team members handled the stress leading up to this conference meet,” she said. “We were several dancers short due to the middle school choir concert on the same evening and this meant many, many changes in the kick routine.”
Fischer-Danzeisen said changing formations and positions is difficult, especially when her JV team members are generally the newest team members.
“I was not sure what to expect as we had not competed against any teams in our conference yet this season,” she said. “I was so proud of the team when they were awarded the second place spot. I was especially pleased to increase our scores from our first competition in Detroit Lakes this season.”
The JV team scored one point better overall and outscored Cathedral and Albany in the category of placement and control.
“We're looking to increase our scores even more this Saturday in Fergus Falls,” said Fischer-Danzeisen.
Head Coach Laura Anderson said parents of some of the dancers told her they “got chills” watching the girls execute their routines.
“The varsity routine is unlike anything we have done before and it requires the girls to express emotions of determination and vulnerability,” Anderson said. “They did a great job of doing just that and we saw this reflected in our ‘routine effectiveness’ scores.”
With the JV kick team starting off the season so strong this year, Anderson is optimistic about the level of difficulty the girls are capable of the rest of this season - and for next year.
“Taking second place in both varsity and JV in a conference meet positions us well in the Granite Ridge Conference for the season,” she said.
The girls’ next event is the Fergus Falls Dance Team Invitational today (Saturday), then they are off for the holidays until Jan. 3 when they compete in Rocori.
