After the amazing successes from the ADM dance team the past two years, their work finally paid off in the State Dance competition this year. They won 5th place in jazz class four, a division 1 rating in pom, and was only .1 points away from the division 1 rating in lyrical.

Emily Wilkerson said, “It felt really good to place fifth and have a trophy!” after the weekend of state dance occurred. Cari Walton chimed in saying she was really excited and it was fun since it’s her first time there.

The coach of two years at ADM, Tara Leete, was very content and satisfied after the competition and said she was “very proud of them and they did everything they wanted. Nobody held back; they left everything on the floor.”

To prepare as a dance team, Leete said, “We take time to step away from our routines and critique the technique part of it.” She says that overall her job as a coach is to build character, so that’s why they do some community service activities, as well. “Just teaching them that it’s not all about dance,” Leete explained.

In the upcoming months, the dancers are getting ready for all the home boys basketball games at halftime, as well as Marching Auxiliaries Midwest Regionals on January 21st in Southeast Polk. They are also looking forward to their annual elementary dance team camp. Leete says she’s hoping to teach “some material they haven’t put in yet from summer camp.” She also mentioned that the girls are excited to do a hip hop routine!

Looking forward, the dancers are excited to do their routines again to finish the season strong, and Dakota Jones says she’s most excited “about having dance camp for Kindergarten through fifth graders.”

In the upcoming Marching Auxiliaries Midwest Regionals, Walton will be performing two solos, as well as Katelyn Lee and senior, Alexis Stine, performing a solo on top of the state solos.

Overall with the great finish in 2016, the ADM Dance Team is excited to take on the Marching Auxiliaries Midwest Regionals, the annual elementary camp and put in a hip hop dance. They are hoping to use 2017 as a backbone to “keep solidifying our program and keep it building. The girls worked really hard last year to restructure everything and then really set the tone and make a name for themselves. It’s important that I strive to keep that going and build the program as well,” said Leete.

Stine commented that she wants to watch the team keep succeeding and get more recognition for what they do in years to come. Leete agreed in saying, “I want to see team size grow into multiple teams, like a jv team, and maybe even a middle school team.”

Dance is a sport like any school sport, so the team, along with Coach Leete, are striving to let their audience “realize that the dance program is really a hard working team.”