Dance is a 鈥榳ay of life鈥� for Martinsville varsity dance team
MARTINSVILLE, Ind. — Dancing is more than just lights and makeup. To the Martinsville dance team it is a way of life. Some of these gals and guys have been dancing since they were old enough to walk.
Auditions consist of a meeting and then two days of a choreography clinic. On the final day, the dancers have an audition which they perform for the judges. They are judged on their technique, flexibility and ability to freestyle dance. After making the team, the dance team practices two nights a week. They have some strenuous practices in the summer where they learn most of their routines since they don鈥檛 have a lot of practice time available during the regular week. Most of the dancers dance at their own studios and are also competitive dancers. They dance anywhere from 15-20 hours a week training in all dance styles. Therefore, there isn鈥檛 much time for practice with dance team. The dancers also do weight training during the school week just like other sports. It is a lot for them to juggle but they love it.
The team is coached by Justine St. John who is also the owner of Studio J2 Dance. She and her mother opened the dance studio when she was a senior at Martinsville High School and have been in business for 13 years.
鈥淭he dance team consists of dancers from all studios in Martinsville,鈥� St. John said. 鈥淚 have several from my studio and then also a few from other studios as well. The kids really enjoy this aspect of dance team because they get to dance and share their passion with other dancers they don鈥檛 dance with every day.鈥�
Not only does the team perform at half time for football and girls and boys basketball games, but they also compete in dance competitions at the high school level.
鈥淭his is our first year ever competing,鈥� St. John said. “We are attending four competitions with the IHSDTA (Indiana High School Dance Team Association) in hopes to make it to regionals and state in March. We are competing hip hop and jazz this year. We attended our first competition in December and our dancers placed second just shy of first by .04 with their hip hop routine. We are excited to see what鈥檚 in store for the rest of the season.鈥�
Last, Justine was asked how music is selected for the dances.
“If you attended the last performance, the dance was not the typical hip hop dance,鈥� St. Johns said. 鈥淚 make the final decision and do all of the editing. However, I always ask the kids to send me recommendations or preferences on songs since they know what the student section will like and what is popular right now. The piece we performed recently about suicide was a routine I choreographed for a different set of dancers for studio a couple years back. Each year the dance team does a meaningful routine to spread awareness and the dancers begged me to bring this piece back for the high school team. They felt that teen suicide is a major issue right now in the world they are living in. I thought it was pretty special that they saw the importance in spreading awareness and honoring those we have lost over the years in our town due to suicide. The crowd is always shocked when we don鈥檛 do our usual upbeat hip hop routines. But we feel as artists it is our duty to use our platform to spread awareness and help others.鈥�
The team has four seniors this year who have been on the dance team their four years of high school. They would love for you to come out to see them dance at one of the games this season.
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