Dance Team Bounces Back

This year hasn’t been easy for the dance team.

Added to Weir’s list of extracurricular activities last year, the team lost seven seniors, who graduated in the spring. As a result, they did not have enough members to field a team. The group could have been cut if they could not get a team together, so they had to rebuild from the start.

They originally planned to have tryouts in august, but not enough students were interested, so they made social media posts and had a signup sheet in all three lunches. They had over 30 students who were interested. Tryouts were held September 6 and 15, and from there members were chosen. They ended up with six returning students and nine new members.

In an interview, dance team coach and digital computer teacher Kristen Palavis said, “It was fantastic to see so many interested in such a new program.”

Many people assume they are starting from scratch, but that is not true. They are taking what they learned last year and building off of that foundation.

Reflecting on last season, junior Lyla Soplinski said, “It’s different because we know what to expect since last year was our first year doing the dance team.

The team will be very similar to last year, performing at basketball games and pep rallies as well as at least one competition. The team did not assemble in time to perform at football games.

Palavis added, “The plan is to have a lot of fun this season…The dance team is a fun, relaxing environment that the students can let loose and not worry about making mistakes as in other sports.”

The team plans to attend a competition at Wheeling Park in January and has high hopes of placing.

Looking ahead, senior Olivia Baker said, “I am most looking forward to getting learn and perform the dances with all of the girls and getting to go to the competition in January.”