Dance Team Leaps to Nationals

The St Kate’s Wildcat dance team and their road to nationals

By Lainey Mankowski

On Feb 26th, the St. Kate’s dance team will be competing at the USA Collegiate Champions competition in Anaheim, Cal. Dance is different from a lot of sports in that anyone can go to nationals. Of the three main competitions for collegiate dance, based on the timing, continuing to build up the numbers of the team and being a D3 school, USA nationals was the way to go for the ladies of the dance team.

Nationals are looking a little different this year due to COVID. “Normally you get to watch all the other teams perform, but this year we have to dance and leave,” said Trista Peitz ‘25 (Nursing).

With just over a week before nationals, a few more practices to finalize the dance are taking place as well as more conditioning. The team will be showcasing their brand new nationals routine during a basketball court performance on Feb. 16, which is also their Senior Night and a nationals send-off.

Coach Alexa Boderman choreographs the team’s basketball halftime pom routine. She has been a part of the St. Kate’s dance team since 2013: starting as a dancer and going on to become the coach after her graduation in 2017. “I usually get inspired by music. This year in particular, I was inspired by the university's mission of teaching women to lead and influence, so we did a women empowerment theme,” Boderman said. “To choreograph, I mixed the music and took a notebook, closed my eyes and wrote everything down.”

Dancer Alexa Rimer ‘23 (Sonography) said that on one of the first weekends of the dance season, the team spends two full days learning all of the choreography. Once they have it all memorized, they take pieces and perfect everything from arm placement to the direction their heads should face.

Due to COVID-19, the dance team hasn't been on the court during basketball halftime in two years. “This was a big step for them that they got to kind of reinvent themselves and go out there and show everybody what they can do and what we bring as a program,” Boderman said.

From @stkatesdanceteam on Instagram: The 2022 St Kate’s Dancers

The team is very tight-knit and they have been able to bond a lot over the course of the season. The first gameday back on the court was a favorite bonding experience for the team as they had gotten to know each other so well prior. Emma Proefrock ‘25 (Nursing) explained that her favorite memory was a Friendsgiving party the team had with each other. It was an event where the team was able to spend time together outside of practice.

Virtual tryouts for the dance team are open through Apr. 1. Tryout video information is located on their Instagram page @stkatesdanceteam.