Competitive Dance: A primer to the first IHSA state dance event
By Jeff Vorva For Sun-Times Media January 24, 2013 10:42PM
Seven teams from the area will appear in the IHSA Competitive Dance State Finals.
The what?
The IHSA is hosting its inaugural dance competition Friday and Saturday at U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington.
High school dance teams have been around for a long time but are getting more recognition since the IHSA recognized the sport this school year. Like any new sport, there are a lot of questions. Here are a few we can try to answer:
So, what the heck is this? Is it something like “Dancing With the Stars?”
No, it’s actually team routines — something one might see on “Dance Moms.”
Teams perform to a routine that can be 1 minute, 45 seconds to 3 minutes with dance styles such as pom, kick, lyrical, jazz, hip-hop and combinations of styles.
There are three classes based on school size.
Who from the area is going?
In Class 3A, it’s Plainfield North and Joliet West. In 2A, it’s Morris and Lincoln-Way West. In 1A, it’s Peotone and Mount Assisi.
Did anyone from the area win a sectional title?
Morris won the Class 2A Minonk Fieldcrest title and Peotone won the Class 1A Andrew Sectional.
Morris racked up an 86.37 sectional score. Coach Becky Struck said Morris has enjoyed success during its history and has 31 state titles in Team Dance Illinois competition as the Redskins participated in both the hip-hop and pom divisions. The Redskins need to decide which style gives them the best chance to win this weekend.
“It’s all blended into one — there are no separate categories,” Struck said. “We’ve done pretty well with our pom routine so we’ll do that on Friday evening for sure. If we qualify for Saturday’s finals, we’ll decide if we want to do the pom routine again or do the hip-hop routine. We’ll play it by ear.”
Peotone won its sectional with a 68.10, easily outdistancing Aurora Central Catholic’s 57.73.
Any other teams to watch out for?
Plainfield North finished second in the Class 3A Minonk Fieldcrest Regional with a whopping 90.93 for the area’s best score.
Where is the hotbed of competitive dance?
Look north.
North suburban school had some impressive sectional numbers with Stevenson (97.53) and Warren (96.40) leading the way in Class 3A and Lake Forest (94.00) tops in Class 2A. Down south, Mahomet Seymour (86.47) had the best sectional score in Class 1A.
How many high schools competed this season?
There were 241 teams that competed in IHSA events and 207 competed in sectionals and 91 made it to Bloomington.
Who gets the honor of being the first team to perform the historic first state tournament dance?
Woodstock North kicks it off at 10:15 a.m. in Class 1A. The first area team will be Peotone, which will get rolling at 12:09 p.m.
