This year’s dance team is back and better than ever after two years of event cancellations and erratic scheduling due to COVID-19. As they move into the upcoming basketball season, the team is shifting gears and buckling down on preparing dances. They have come a long way from the beginning of the year and have nothing but high hopes for the future. 

“It is something that has been really amazing to watch,” Dance coach Madeleine wilkowske said. “When I started I had a lot of kids who had never danced before and now you would believe they have been dancing for several years.”

As for what the team is doing right now, they primarily perform at sports games. However, once a year, in the spring, there is a dance concert where they perform a collection of dances that they learned throughout the year. This year’s 2022 concert will be the first one in three years due to the cancellation in 2020 and 2021 that wilkowske found “heartbreaking”.

“That is always the highlight of the year,” wilkowske said. “These kids have worked all year long and they want to showcase what they have done for their friends

and family.”

Undoubtedly, they have not let the misfortune of the past couple of years deter their passion for dance and their morale as a team. It is very important to everyone involved that they all are having the best experience possible and they demonstrate it whenever an opportunity arises. 

Such as when it was revealed that Lucile Coste, a French exchange student, had never heard of the game Duck, Duck, Goose, and they set aside 10 minutes at the end of practice to sit down as a team and play. Moments like these make up the environment of the dance team that is described by senior Anastasia Leasburg as “inspiring.”

“Everybody on the team is very kind and very supportive,” Leasburg said. “If you are gone for one day, two days, or even 30 minutes and you come late everyone is like ‘Where are you? We have missed you’ and they catch you up to speed on what you missed.”

Gallery • 3 Photos

Madysen Hawley

The dance team warming up at the beginning of practice

The last few years have not been the easiest for the dance team but with the new year, they are planning to venture into the world of conventions and classes away from Buena. They plan to make lifelong memories with one another while doing it, and they urge you to take part with try-outs coming out in the spring.

“I do not know that I am looking to make it a competition team,” wilkowske said. “But I would like to extend those more enriching opportunities where they get to take classes from someone other than myself […] I think there are a lot of people that provide different styles and genres other than the ones that I am primarily focused on in our program.”