Jenison dance competition season: what’s happened and what’s to come

Faith Kohley, Staff Writer|February 4, 2022

The Jenison varsity dance team is nearing the end of their competition season this year. They’ve already competed at some competition, and now there is only a few left to go.
 
In the dance world, competitions are a big deal. It is when the dancers can show off all they have been working on since the season started. This year the Jenison dance team is competing at four competitions. These competitions are where you see everything come together. Practicing is much different than performing. As their coach Emma said, “There is a huge difference between performing the dance in practice and performing it in front of an audience, and it always excites me to see the dances come to life!” Since the start of the competition season, a lot has happened so far. Here are the basics of what’s happened and what’s to come for the Jenison dance team.

Aquinas Competition

Their first competition of the season was January 8 at Aquinas college. This was a challenging week for the team. It was the first week back from break, and there were two snow days. They also had some dancers out for the week, and lost another to an injury the night before competition. All the dancers had to work hard to get their dance ready for Saturday. Despite all the troubles, the dance team was able to have a great performance at the competition.

Davenport Competition

The second competition on January 22 was at Davenport College. At this competition the dance team was able to perform both of their dances. The weeks leading up to this competition weren’t the easiest on the team. They still had one dance out from an injury, as well as others out for sickness again. Because of this, the team has to make many changes to their routines for the competition. This was the first competition that the team ever performed hip hop, which is not an ideal situation to be in. It’s best to have performed a routine at least once before competining it. Even so, the team had good performances in both of their dances.

St. Johns Competition

On January 29, the dance team had their third competition at St. Johns. This is the first competition where everyone on the team was able to perform. All the dancers worked hard in the week leading up to their competition to get their routines ready. Not only did the team get to compete their two dances, but they also got to compete their guy girl dance. St. Johns is the only competition that offers guy girl and it’s always fun to look forward to. This competition was a success for the team, even taking home first place in their guy girl dance.

West Ottawa Competition

The last competition of the season is February 12 at West Ottawa. There is plenty to do before this competition. The team will have to continue to practice and improve their dances. On top of that, they will also be preparing for their performances at the pink out game and ceremony on February 11. After interviewing some dancers on the team, I learned what they are most looking forward to. Here were their answers. 
“I am looking forward to seeing how all of our hard work and our dances come together as we have gone through so many obstacles and formation changes to get to this point.” -Maddison
“I’m looking forward to competing with the girls and having fun to end my senior year in a positive way.” -Avery
 
In all, the 2021-2022 dance team competition season is coming to an end. The team has made great progress and has great routines to compete this year. They’ve faced many obstacles along the way, but they continue to work through them. Even though competition season is coming to an end, there is still time to come and support the team. You can also see the team perform at various basketball games in the upcoming weeks.