Unfamiliar to many, competitive studio dance is a whole world that is often forgotten. Studio dance is not affiliated with the school, however the work put in by athletes is nonetheless more than any other school sport.
Competitive dancers work year round in order to be prepared for competition season. Oftentimes, beginning in the late summer to early fall, dancers learn the choreography of their routine and spend months perfecting the timing, technique and skills.
Many PVHS students are involved in studio dance and spend much of their time outside of school preparing themselves and their team for competition season.
Senior Caitlin Crome expressed “A lot of people don’t realize it, but most dancers train anywhere from 10 to 20 hours a week in the studio. And then add an extra 20 hours to their weekly total when competitions are on the weekends,” she said.
Dancers spend their weeks taking classes to perfect their art and learn new things while at the same time practicing their routines for competitions.
Crome said “For me, I have class almost every single night during the week along with competition rehearsals,” stated Crome. “This shows that competitive dancers put just as much time and effort into their craft as most high school athletes would.
The competitions held are different than any other sporting event. Competitors are separated into categories by age, difficulty level, group size and style. After competing, dancers then wait for what can be hours to receive their awards at a ceremony for their category.
Other competitive sports often have entire games lasting up to hours to determine the victor. However, dancers only have their short two to three minute routine to prove themselves as the winner of their respective category.
Junior Kelly Brewer explained how people are unaware of the intensity of dance competitions.They are way more competitive and a lot more work goes into competing than what is known,” she said.
Many students who are not dancers have also grown to appreciate the competitive nature.
Senior Abbey Wehrheim did not know how much work went into the sport until those around her began to compete. “So many people just watch the couple minute routines and never know all the things that went into making it happen,” she said.
Athletes in all sports put in work through their many different training regimens and the nature of competitive dance can be considered synonymous with the rest.
