Dance team leaps towards state contest

The Kokomo Dance Team has achieved a lot of successes during their 2022-2023 season. The dancers have demonstrated remarkable strength and resilience as well as showing their team spirit and personal progress. 

Coach Gina Curl led the team through the season with lots of hard work and long practice hours. 

“This is the best team I’ve ever had as far as being talented and having emotional stability to maintain a whole season of dance,” Curl said.

The Kokomo Dancers are high-achievers who set many goals for themselves to reach their full potential and make the best out of the season. Sophomore Danielle Gomez’s goal was “to get to semi-state in my solo and in our team dances.”

“We haven’t gone to regionals yet so I don’t know about our group dances, but Anna (Becker) and I are going to semi-state,” she said.

Curl also has high expectations for the team leading up to the state competition.

“Personally, I think that they should be first or second in the state and the state is coming up, so we will see how they achieve it. Anna and Dani are coming to Semi-state so they are in the top of so many in the state, and if they make the first cut then state finals will be Saturday night and we’ll go from there,” the coach said. “Their duet will probably go on and they should go on as soloists too and that means that they’ve gone against hundreds of girls in the whole state and they’ve made it in the top 10 of those girls.”

Behind the team’s many achievements and the astonishing performances put out by the girls are difficult challenges.

“The most challenging thing is not everybody views dance as a sport or understands how much work we put in. We practice year round. We do every season and therefore we have to make sure even though we’re sharing students with other activities that they understand the importance of them being here,” Curl said.

Freshman Anna Becker said that the sport can be really tiring.

“The most challenging part has been always continuing to go and keeping up the energy,” she said.

While the dancers learn new physical skills in the sport, they also take home some valuable lessons that can be applied to other areas in life.

“A lesson I’ve learned from dance is to always stay positive. If you come into a practice negative, the whole team feeds off of that and you don’t want a negative team. So I would just say stay positive throughout the hard times,” Gomez said.

Becker also added “A lesson I learned is that when you make a mistake, it’s okay. We all make mistakes and that’s how you get better.”

The Kokomo Dance Team is an inclusive team for both beginners and International students, as well as more experienced dancers. Sophomore Jiu Nam, an International student from South Korea and a beginner dancer, is new to this year’s team.

“Since I’m on a good team, with a very great coach and teammates, we were able to win a lot of competitions. It is a big accomplishment for me since it is my first time,” Nam said. “I don’t feel like my teammates treat me or anyone else differently. They treat us the same and as a part of the team.”  

Even though it isn’t finished yet, the 2022-2023 dance season has already brought the girls many memorable experiences that they will cherish for the rest of their dance careers. 

“My favorite memory is probably our first dance competition. I looked back at it and thought it was very funny because we were all so tired and all looked like we were about to pass out. But I feel like those moments are what build your team to be stronger so whenever I look back, I feel like it was a core moment of this season,” Gomez said. 

On February 18, Gomez placed 3rd in her solo at semi-state and will be advancing to the state competition. Becker placed 9th in her solo at semi-state and will also be advancing to state. Gomez and Becker also qualified for state for their duo. The Kokomo Dance Team will be going to semi-state on Saturday, March 25.