The Eagle Lightning Dance team attended USA Nationals this year on March 14 in Anaheim, California. They competed in their final competition of the season directly after their success at State.
The team qualified for all four of their routines for the Championship division at Nationals after submitting their online videos.
“It was probably the hardest practice we’ve had all season long,” said junior Birklie Smith. “We had two hours of filming, four hours of practice and filming afterwards.” To be accepted into Nationals, the team had only two opportunities to film their routines.
In preparation for the competition, the team used a couple new strategies to improve the confidence and cleanliness of each of their dances. Anticipating the change of environment, the dancers shifted their routines to face a different side of the gym walls.
“It challenged us to make sure we could guide to each other instead of using muscle memory, since we don’t get a practice run on the Nationals floor,” said senior Captain Veronica Eliason.
After two full days of intense competition, the team took home second in Military, second in Hip Hop, third in Pom and fourth in Dance. Two of their routines even placed higher in Finals than originally ranked at Semi-Finals.
“The competition taught me to be proud of myself no matter the outcome and leave it all on the floor,” said freshman dancer Lyla Swenson. While the team did take home trophies, they also brought back valuable lessons that they will carry into next season.
Working together as a team and putting forth equal amounts of passion and determination led to their success not only at the State level, but the National level as well.
