The high school dance teams from across Utica Community Schools took their dancing to the next level and competed on national stages in Orlando, FL this month. The dance teams from Utica High School and Eisenhower High School competed at the Universal Dance Association (UDA) National Dance Team Championship while the new Stevenson Ford United Dance Team competed at the Dance Team Union National Championship.
“Competing in a nationals event provides the team with the opportunity to compete against some of the best teams in the nation,” Stevenson Ford United Dance Team co-coach, Kristina Robinson said. “It pushes the dancers to continually work to become their very best dancer and allows them to represent our schools and the district in a positive manner.”
As one of five Eisenhower Dance Team coaches and one of the four alumni of the Ike dance program, Maria Chodnicki said the experience was memorable to say the least.
“It is almost like a celebration of our entire season no matter what the outcome would be, where our dancers can showcase all of their hard work they put toward these routines since the summertime,” Chodnicki said.
For co-head coach of Utica Varsity Dance, Kaitlyn Venglar, her favorite part of the experience was seeing the dancers unite as one to share their passion for dance and each other.
“We always preach performing with intention with each other and for each other, and I believe this mantra allowed us to earn a top 10 spot in the small varsity category,” Venglar said.
In the end, the hard put forth by each dance team paid off and showed in their performances.
Highlights for each UCS dance team are below:
Eisenhower Dance Team – UDA National Dance Team Championship
All six routines from the school’s three dance teams (varsity, junior varsity and junior high) made it to the national finals.
Stevenson Ford United Dance Team – DTU National Championship
The newly united program made history for both schools by advancing to the finals with all three dance routines, their pom routine placed third in the nation.
Utica Dance Team – UDA National Dance Team Championship
The varsity team’s pom dance routine made it to the final round amongst 88 teams and placed 8th in the nation. The junior varsity dance team also attended UDA Nationals and made it to Finals with their jazz routine, also placing 8th in the nation.
