High School Dance Team

Hey everyone!

Many schools, especially high schools, now have dance team as an option and I wanted to give you some insight to my experience on dance team along with some pros and cons. These are all my opinion and may be totally different from someone else, but more just wanted share my experience.

As a high schooler who is planning on majoring in dance in college, when I started high school I was very interested in dance team. I thought it would be something I could really enjoy and also would allow me to stay involved in school, along with making friends, while doing something I love. My freshman year I auditioned and made the team, but all year I struggled with schedules of my studio and the school's team overlapping along with added time-commitment and homework stress. I enjoyed it, but I had to work really hard to make it all fit in my schedule. By the end of the season I planned on not doing it the next year because I just wasn't sure it was going to work for me...

However, when audition time came at the beginning of sophomore year, I still hadn't made a decision because I wanted to do what was "right" for me, my studio, and the school dance team. I ended up talking to the coach and decided that I would try football season and see if it would work, and then decide whether I would be able to continue.

After A LOT of thinking, long conversations with my parents, dance teachers, and school coach, and a lot more thinking I decided it just wasn't right for me.

I still had a great time at games, enjoyed watching and supporting my former teammates, and have such fond memories of my time on the team!

There were a lot of pros and cons and here were some for me:

Pros:

1. Social aspect-making friends and bonding

2. School involvement

3. Continued training

4. Fun performances

5. Financial. Dance is a VERY expensive hobby at most private studios, and for some families Dance Team is a great way to continue doing something you love during harder times.

Cons:

1. Conflict between my studio and school schedule

2. Added time commitment

3. Wasn't my personal favorite style

4. Wasn't challenging me to my full potential*** Joining as a freshman, it wasn't clear to me that dance team wasn't like the videos I had googled before trying out. Most were from national college competitions and were so fast, clean and intricate I couldn't wait to learn things like that! I quickly learned that for my high school dance team, the goal of the team was to hype up the crowd and show school spirit, and the routines weren't quite like what I had seen trending on social media.

It was a very very hard decision, but I had to go with my gut and for me, dance team just wasn't the best option.

When younger dancers ask me if they should do it, I always ask them this:

"Is dance team something you'd like to pursue in college?"

If they answer yes to that question, I think they should absolutely start emersing themselves in all things dance team so they are prepared and ready when they graduate to pursue that with success.

Once I realized that was not something I was interested in, the decision became an easy one to make. I am very happy I tried it though, and I think it was a huge learning experience for me. Now I know more about myself, along with knowing that I am not planning on doing dance team in college. Think of all the stress I avoided by learning that at 15 and not 18 in my first semester of college!!!

Glad I could share some insight to my experience on dance team, and hope this helps if you are trying to make the decision of whether dance team is right for you!

#danceteam #highschool #makingdecisions #timemanagement #training #school #myexperience #versatility