Kickin’ it into high gear
As the Bomber Dance team is about to embark to state, they are working hard inside and outside of practice.
The team dances at the Cannon Falls competition.
The Cannon Falls Bomber Dance Team is nearing the end of a great season. The girls started out their season fairly strong as far as winning goes but, toward the end had to overcome a few difficulties. Roughly two weeks before the Conference competition, the coaches decided the original dance wasn’t reaching their full potential. After lots of thought, the team and coaches erased the whole dance and redid it in just one week. Loads of stress was dumped on the team and coaches that week as they fought extremely hard to complete and perfect their new moves. The dancers competed their new dance at conference on Friday, January 25th at Stewartville High School. Leading up to the conference, the girls were excited and eager to “keep the streak.” For the past 11 years, Cannon Falls has placed first in kick at Conference and this year the girls were hoping to raise the streak to 12. The team put up a huge fight but, just missed that first place medal. They finished in second; just 17 points below Lake City. The Cannon Falls jazz team also competed strongly, finishing in third place. The girls were devastated they “lost the streak,” but knew they had to continue to fight. Junior dancer, Vanessa Peer, mentioned that “losing the streak,” made the team “stronger in the long run.”
The Bomber Dance Team was now just one step away from the much anticipated State Dance Tournament. Next in line was Sections. The two weeks before Sections, the dancers were faced with yet another obstacle. The cold, snowy winter weather swept through causing the team to miss out on several of their practices. With State in mind, this required them to work extra hard on their own time. Days before Sections, Peer brought up that section leaderboards were predicting Cannon Falls to “double blue.” She further explained that it meant the Bomber Dance Team was predicted to place first in both kick and jazz at Sections.
On Saturday, February 9th, the girls danced their hearts out at Bloomington Kennedy High School, hoping to continue on to State. Fortunately, their hard work paid off and the leaderboard predictions were correct. They placed first in both kick and jazz, advancing the two dances to State. When asked about her thoughts leading to State, sophomore dancer, Emilee Burr, says “there is a mixture of feelings.” With the “fear of failing,” in the back of her mind, Burr says her feelings are “mostly excitement because we get to spend another week as a team and make some really great memories.” The girls will finish out their season performing at the Target Center on Friday February 15th and Saturday February 16th. The jazz competition will take place on Friday, followed by the kick competition on Saturday.
My name is Kylie. I'm a senior at Cannon Falls and I play volleyball. I love making mems with my pals!!! :)
Bryson Felton is a senior photographer and part editor for the Lantern. He is also involved in the school musicals and plays, speech, yearbook, and track....