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Updates from Upperclassmen by Sydney Kokot

As fall sports come to an end and winter sports begin, the Albert Lea Dance Team is excited to get back on the floor. I have been a part of the dance team since I was an eighth grader and am now starting my final year on the team as a senior and captain of ALDT. Throughout my five years on the team, we have faced many highs but also lows, one of which has been our coaching staff. The dance team has had three different head coaches in the last four years. This has made it very difficult for the dance team to become dependent on a coach; because of this, the dancers on the team have been our main source of stability and leadership for the past few years. This has allowed the team not only to become closer to one another, but also this has given every individual the ability to contribute leadership to the team in some way.

This year we had the honor of having two of our assistant coaches from last year step up and lead the team in the head coaching position. Our new head coaches are Hannah Peterson and Bri Stettler. They are both former ALDT dancers and were eager to start off the season this year in the new role as co-head coaches. Being a coach of a team is a huge commitment for any sport, but being a dance coach is a whole different type of commitment. I’ve experienced firsthand that both coaches have excellent qualities that make them fit the position perfectly. We are only a few weeks in, and they have already shown the team nothing but support, excitement and leadership.

Dance isn’t a sport where you put players on the field in a specific spot based on their ability to perform. In dance you put everyone on the floor and teach them how to be good. This is what makes dance different from many other sports. In dance you perform and learn how to be good; you don’t learn how to be good in order to perform. The team practices an average of six days a week. This gives the dancers time to focus on specific skills and muscle memory.

To give you a little background on the dance world and how it works, every year all of the dance teams come up with a central theme that they will create their choreography, music, make-up and costumes around. This year the leaders on the team picked the theme Cirque du Solei, which is an organization that provides high quality entertainment. In these performances there are many acrobatic and complex skills that make cirque unique. Our first competition of the 2023-24 season is on Saturday, Dec. 9, in Northfield. The dance team has been working hard to perfect the routine and make it ready for competition.

Our team started a tradition last year where not only do we create a theme for our dance, but we create a theme for the way that we will make this season different and better than previous years. This year our theme is fearless, coach Peterson explained, “Having a fearless mindset during this season will provide the girls an opportunity to show off their best skills and techniques. With our theme being Cirque du Solei we will be focusing on a lot of acrobatics, which is a whole new technique and level of dance for the girls. The biggest reminder they will be given each day and to tell themselves is, you can do anything you set your mind to, especially when you believe in yourself.’’ We wanted to remind our team every day that the only way to grow is to face our fears. We decided that to be fearless each and every day was a great start to this.

The dance team is absolutely thrilled and filled with anticipation to get out on the floor and show our supporters and rival teams what we have been working on. Though we have had some lows, we are very excited to approach this season with a fearless attitude. We hope to see you in the stands.

Sydney Kokot is a senior at Albert Lea High School.