The Bomber Dance Team has started its season with some exciting wins. With the Section Championship just around the corner the team is working tirelessly to prepare. The main focus is to build endurance, stamina, and strength which will help the dancers to perform at their best.
Sophomore Taylor Reed explained her goals for the season, saying “my goals for this upcoming postseason are to become closer to the team and…make it to state in both kick and jazz.” These goals are the team’s motivation for the postseason, as it is quickly approaching. This past season the team only lost two members which has helped with the team’s chemistry. Reed explained that she thinks the team chemistry is really good. At the beginning of the season, they were a little distant but through all of the hard practices and overcoming obstacles they have grown closer. The girls spend a lot of time together during the season at practices and competitions. The time spent together brings the girls lifelong friendships and another family away from home.
Emily Breland is one of the seven seniors on the dance team this year, and has been a part of the team for six years. Breland wrote that her favorite part of the season so far was the Bomber’s home invitational. She enjoyed getting to spend lots of time with the team and winning the kick portion of the competition on their home floor. The team got first in kick and second in jazz at the invitational. When asked what the team’s greatest strengths and weaknesses are, Breland said “the team’s greatest strength is our ability to come together during hard practices and encourage one another to push through them. One of the biggest obstacles the team has faced this season is overthinking while performing and as we head into the postseason we are working on confidence and performance quality or overcoming it.” The girls go through a lot together during the season and it is important for the dancers to push past any obstacles that arise and towards the goals they are looking to achieve.
Head coach Jamie Swenning has greatly impacted the team and its success throughout her many years of coaching. After being head coach for fourteen years she continues to push them to do what she knows they are capable of doing. “I would say the accomplishment I’m the most proud of that the team has made this season is really focusing on the little things that they are learning are not quite so little and are really the big things that make a huge difference in their scores and placements at competitions. It’s not always fun to continue to drill and clean the same things over and over again but they continue to maintain a good attitude and be willing to do those things to help reach their goals,” Coach Swenning explained. The team has had some exciting wins this season and in order to continue the streak they have to continue to improve and push themselves every day. Coach Swenning added “the improvements and things we’re focusing on now before [the] Section Championship are really the fine details as well as continuing to focus on endurance and technique. Always trying to improve technique and endurance is a never-ending goal and continuing to improve the routines and make them as clean and sharp as possible is something I will continue to work on for the remainder of the season to be our best for these important meets.” The team has some exciting competitions in the near future against some of their biggest competitors as Coach Swenning alluded to.
The team continues to persevere through challenges and work hard both inside and outside of practice. With the postseason looming in the near future, the team continues to prepare, improve, and set goals as they look towards the postseason. As Reed, Breland, and Coach Swenning commented, the team has a bright future ahead of them and will continue to pursue through any mental or physical blocks that come their way. The team’s next competition is the Section Championship on Saturday, February 8th at the Lake City High School. The team’s performance at the Section Championship will determine if they punch their ticket to the 2025 State Tournament.
