Elkhorn South Dance Team Earns Three Top 10 National Rankings
Over the past weekend, the Elkhorn South Dance Team traveled to Orlando, Florida, and competed in the Universal Dance Association (UDA) Competition. While the girls have been competing in the competition since 2018, this year was different. Elkhorn South’s Dance Team made history, taking home three top 10 rankings. The team received 10th place in the Super-large Varsity Game-day division, 7th place in the Large Varsity Jazz division, and a well-deserved top 5 in the Large Varsity Pom division. What’s even more incredible is that additionally, it was Elkhorn South Dance Team’s first year in the pom division!!
The six day trip began with several hours of practice at Leggz Dance Studio. The team rehearsed all three routines, made tweaks, and reviewed choreography to ensure they were ready to go for the next three days of competing. Friday marked the official start of the competition. The game-day and jazz categories only had to compete in semi-finals and finals as there were not enough teams competing to have a preliminary round. However, the pom division had plenty of competition and a preliminary round was necessary.
Elkhorn South competed in all three dances on Friday and found out that all had made it through to the next round! On Saturday, the team competed in each routine again. This time, though, jazz and gameday were in the final round, meaning that after each performance the team would get nationally ranked!! After discovering on Saturday night that their pom dance had continued on to finals, the team competed in their pom dance for the last time on Sunday morning. Later, the girls went to Hollywood Studios and then ventured back to the ESPN center to cheer on more teams.
While dance team nationals may seem like a “free trip to Disney,” in reality it is so much more than that. An entire year’s worth of hard work, early morning practices, no days off, and drilling dances went into the results of this year’s 2022 national competition. Below are some pictures from the trip!! Check out the ESDT Instagram (@elkhornsouthdanceteam) to see videos of the jazz and pom finals performances!! Hope you enjoy and as always roll storm!
