From the top! — The Wheel

Wildcat dancers had to be flexible these last few years— Now, they are leaping toward new goals.

With eight dancers on the team— three returners and five first-years— veteran dancer and senior leader Melody Swanson ‘22 (Exercise and Sport Science) says that things are really looking up for the St. Kate’s dance team. This year, they have big plans to compete in the USA National Championships in Anaheim, Cal.

The Wildcat dancers just wrapped up “choreo days,” where the team learns their competition choreography over a weekend. Swanson says they learned their court routine (a hip-hop-style dance that they perform at basketball game halftimes) the week before, and over the weekend they learned a pom-style routine that they compete with — that’s two dances in two days in just a week.

Now the team’s focus is on memorizing both dances and formations. They will be largely cleaning up their court routine to get it performance-ready. While mainly working on hip hop, the dancers are also training and conditioning to get into better shape to start working on their pom routine, which they will begin cleaning very soon.

Getting their competition routine is incredibly important this year because the team is planning to travel to California on Feb. 26 and 27.

“We’re hoping that the pandemic slows down and we can actually travel,” Swanson says. “Right now, that’s the goal — we already have the flights and our hotel booked. It’s actually everyone’s first year traveling and competing in an in-personal national college dance competition. It’s the first time in four years our team is going to be seen at nationals with a new coach, with a new type of choreography, and with new costumes, too.”

Swanson says even as a senior who has danced at the collegiate level for four years, she has never gotten the chance to travel to nationals: “My freshman year was sort of a rebuilding year, so we only traveled as far as the convention center in Minneapolis for our regional competition.”

The team is incredibly excited to compete in person this year. Last year, the Wildcats learned their choreography on Zoom, practiced together briefly, and then recorded a video of their routine to send to the national judges. But creating a video is not quite the same as a competition with a live audience.

*Last year’s team learned their dance and practiced on Zoom before they were able to record and submit their video to the National judges.*

“California is definitely going to be a change of scenery for many reasons,” Swanson says. “Our routine is a little bit different than our previous years. . . .Our choreographer this year is from California and knows the style of dance routine the judges will be looking for. There’s a lot of changes to our routine style, like there aren’t as many tricks and turns as in previous years, but there’s a lot more pom arms and sharp movements.”

Swanson says that this new routine is a little bit different than what they’re used to, but they hope that these changes will please the California judges. No matter what, the team is excited and knows they will have a good time at nationals.