On February 14 and 15, the Bomber Dance Team finished its season with an exciting trip to the state tournament. This year marks the twenty-third consecutive year going to state for the team, it shows their extreme dedication and success. In the end, all of the hard workouts and intense practices throughout the season were worth it for the end the team had. This year, the team finished 6th in the high kick division and 10th in the jazz division. It was the first time since 2022 that the team had made it to finals in high kick, which the top six teams participate in, which was an exciting accomplishment. Junior Alexa Shattuck and leadership team members Gabby Krinke and Amera Wells walk through the challenges and talk about their accomplishments. 

Junior Alexa Shattuck has been a dancer on the varsity team since 8th grade. One of the most important things to keep the team striving to meet every goal is motivation. The coaches do many things to keep the dancers pushing every day in practice. Shattuck explains that “I think what motivates us the most to push through hard practices is each other because we are always joking throughout practice and motivating each other to push through. We also are always reminding each other what we are working towards — state.” These motivations are what keep the girls pushing themselves every day in practice so they can better themselves, not only for the team but also for themselves. Shattuck said that the team’s biggest accomplishment from this past season was making it to the finals in kick. The team had not made it since the 2022 season, and it was one of the main goals for the season. 

This past season, the team overcame some challenges with injuries and sickness. Senior leadership team member Amera Wells explained that the team experienced lots of sicknesses throughout the year. This caused lots of absences, which made it hard to work on the dances. There were also a couple of injuries that some dancers had to work through to be able to stay on the floor. Throughout the entire season, the team was very close. Wells explained this, saying that “The team was very together this year. Our bond with each other strengthened throughout the season and everyone was very close to each other by the end of it.”

Senior leadership team member Gabby Krinke has been on the varsity roster since 7th grade. She has made a great impact on the team and its dancers, not only pushing them through hard practices but also making sure everyone is dancing and reaching their full potential. These standards were what helped get the team to their goals at the end of the season. The team’s motto for the season was “against all odds.” Krinke explained that it means everyone on the team will persevere through any and all obstacles that come their way. Throughout the season, one of the team’s goals was to make it to finals at the state tournament in kick. Krinke described what it was like to hear the team’s name called as the final team to advance to kick finals: “We were super excited to hear our names because we knew it was gonna be close. We all knew that making it to state was one goal but making it to finals was another!”

The Bomber Dance Team had a very successful season and have lots to be proud of. The team placed at almost every competition they went to and got 2nd place in both high kick and jazz at Sections, leading them to the Target Center. At the Target Center, the Bomber Dance Team made it to finals in the high kick competition and ended up earning 6th place. In the jazz competition, the team placed 10th and reached their goal of making it to the state tournament in both kick and jazz. The team is already looking forward to and preparing for the 2025-2026 season, with many dancers participating in the local dance studio Just For Kix in order to keep improving.