Springfield hosts dance competition, wins Pom division

Music, cheers and applause emanated from the gymnasium. It certainly sounded as though someone was having one heck of a party at Springfield Middle School Saturday afternoon.

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2016-01-11 / Sports Springfield hosts dance competition, wins Pom division By TIM TAYLOR sports@eagletimes.com The Springfield dance team performs during the Jazz portion of the Springfield Dance Competition Saturday. — TIM TAYLOR The Springfield dance team performs during the Jazz portion of the Springfield Dance Competition Saturday. — TIM TAYLOR SPRINGFIELD — Music, cheers and applause emanated from the gymnasium. It certainly sounded as though someone was having one heck of a party at Springfield Middle School Saturday afternoon. Although it was definitely exciting and fun-filled, what was actually taking place here Saturday afternoon was some pretty serious business. It was the Springfield Dance Competition, the first event of what promises to be one very exciting season. And it didn't matter if it was your team or an opponent. If the competitors and the crowd saw something that impressed them they responded. Six varsity teams and four JV squads competed in the event. Each team is allowed to compete in two categories (Springfield also participated in Jazz). A panel of judges — Jonna Wissert, Zach Warshaw and Rick Kinsman at this one — evaluates each performance based on a set of criteria, then provides scores and feedback. At the end of Saturday's competition, all of the dancers, as well as the audience, were invited out onto the floor for some free dancing before the awards were announced. The host Cosmos opened the season with a victory in the Pom division, the first of three categories of performances. Lamoille won the Jazz title and Mt. Mansfield was first in Hip Hop. Mt. Mansfield's JV team was also recognized as the top junior varsity squad. Burr & Burton earned runner-up honors in Pom and JV, while Mt. Mansfield and Mt. Anthony placed second in Jazz and Hip Hop, respectively. Although it may appear that dance competitions are packed with plenty of fun — and they are — the particpants also put lot of hard work and effort into preparation for the events. Springfield begins practices in mid-November, so the team works hard at it for several weeks before getting an opportunity to perform. “We have a tryout process where they learn a little bit of a combination, then we decide who's going to be on which team, or both teams,” said said Springfield coach Ashley Hensel-Browning. “Then we spend our November and December practices learning choreography for the dances, and then drilling it as much as possible in the time that we have. The team did make a trial run on Jan. 2 when it performedThe Springfield dance team performs during the Pom segment at the Springfield Dance Competition Saturday. — TIM TAYLOR The Springfield dance team performs during the Pom segment at the Springfield Dance Competition Saturday. — TIM TAYLOR at halftime of a girls basketball game. “That's nice practice for them,” Hensel-Browning said. “It's a lot of hard work at practices,” team captain Laurana Slobodnjak said. “We always leave feeling like death, but then we come to the competitions and its awesome to be around so many other really awesome teams. We get to meet so many new people who are all interested in dance like we are. It's just a really fun sport that you still have to work really hard at. “Dancing in a group is a lot different than dancing by yourself. With dancing we don't have a lot of time to work on technique. Some of our dancers, dance team is the only experience they've had, so we have to work on synchronization and really work on more difficult moves. It's just a lot of doing things over and over and over again.” The Springfield team warms up before practices with an 18-lap run around the gym (almost one mile), along with 70 crunches and 20 push-ups. “Running is definitely difficult,” Slobodnjak said. For some of the participants, the first competition can be the toughest, but it doesn't necessarily get any easier. “It is tough because you have kids who have never really performed before, so I think that's a new experience for them,” Hensel-Browning said, “but the other competitions are equally as challenging because everyone's continually stepping up their game. Everyone has gone to some competitions, getting feedback and is trying to improve. As far as from a competitive [standpoint], I'd say every competition is just as competitive.” Hensel-Browning has a couple veteran team members who wanted to try Jazz this year, so they passed on the Hip Hop category. Slobodnjak brings a gymnastics background to the team and also takes dance classes, but for the majority of the group, their experience comes only from the scholastic dance season. Some of the schools offer dance programs during the school day, but Springfield does not. A team can put up to 20 boys and girls on the floor for a routine — the Cosmos have nine on Pom and six in Jazz. The Springfield Dance Team consists of Slobodnjak, Jennifer Anders, Nathalie Cheney, Taylor Drinker, Candace Hadwen, Alyssa Jaime, Carly Nitzel, Lexis Westcott and Caleb Johnson. Tia Horton and Rachel Hawkins assist Hensel-Browning with the coaching. Springfield will compete in three more events before states, heading to Lamoille on Saturday and Mt. Anthony on Jan. 23, both at 1 p.m., and Middlebury on Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. The state competition will be held at Vergennes on Feb. 20 at 5 p.m.