Mishawaka Dance Team celebrates. Photo Credits Sarah Keuhn.
Following their performance in The Cave at Mishawaka High School December 9th, the Mishawaka Dance Team (MDT) traveled to Northrop High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana for their first competition of the 2022-2023 season.
This season, they competed in the Scholastic Division with both Pom and Hip-Hop. The Indiana High School Dance Team Association (IHSDTA) splits the participating schools into different divisions, starting with Scholastic and moving up to Single A, Double A and Triple A, sorted by the size of their school/team. The MDT’s number of members neither grew nor shrunk from last year, so they stayed in the Scholastic Division for competition.
There are a lot of things on MDT’s schedule the day of a competition, as Coach Lily Schnaak explained, “We arrived at Northrop High School at 11am, so the late start was nice…Hip-Hop went first at 1:20, and then Pom followed at 2:30”, she also went on to say “the short timeframe before routines was not helpful in keeping stress levels low, but we handled it well and came out on top”
Mishawaka Dance Team preparing for their Hip-Hop Routine. Photo Credits Lily Schnaak.
Their opening Hip-Hop routine earned the team first place in their division with a score of 63.8. This year's routine, choreographed by Coach Lily Schnaak, showcases a boxer/fighter theme with an announcer intro, a fight scene and a grand knockout to finish the routine. The music choice features many popular artists such as: Eminem, Fort Minor, LL Cool J and more. The team has already started to make changes to the routine following their competition, following the judges comments during the performance.
Mishawaka Dance Team preparing for their Pom routine. Photo Credits Lily Schnaak.
Following their Hip-Hop performance, the team had a quick change before returning to the floor for their Scholastic Pom Routine where they, again, placed first with a score of 58.8. The team kept the same uniforms that they had previously bought during the 2021-2022 season, but changed up a few things, including new bows and poms for the dancers. Their new music featured many different styled artists including: Jack Harlow, Beyoncé, and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, to change up the style and speed throughout the routine.
Following their first competition the team has a few off weeks, with their next competition being on Saturday, January 7th at Crown Point High School in Crown Point, Indiana, as well as possibly more basketball halftime performances, where they will showcase their gold medal-winning routines once again. The coaches have a lot of changes in mind to incorporate into the routines for future performances, so make sure to mark your calendars and come cheer on your Mishawaka Dance Team.
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