2012-13 Winter Preview: Park dance team looking to up the ante in 2012-13

The Park High School dance team hits the floor again this winter.

Under second-year head coach Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger, Park will field a competition dance team again this season.

A school can have both performance and competition squads. Performance squads practice during the week and show off their skills at other varsity sporting events like basketball games. Competition squads bring things to another level, competing in conference and additional invitational meets.

“We have increased the difficulty of skills and choreography to be more competitive within our conference, section, and class,” Hemmingsen-Jaeger said.

The Wolfpack will compete in the Suburban East Conference against East Ridge, Stillwater, Mounds View, Forest Lake, Cretin-Derham Hall and Roseville and will be in Section 3AAA.

Last year, in its conference competitions, Park was judged three different times. In each conference meet, the team’s placing was given a point number. At the final meet at Forest Lake, points were doubled. The Wolfpack Dance Team took fourth in the conference.

At the competitions, the dancers’ hard work in practice all boils down to the teams’ three-minute performances. At the meets, dance teams compete in two categories — high kick and jazz/funk. Teams are scored on 10, 10-point categories ranging from difficulty of skills and choreography to execution and technique. Each score sheet is comprised of 84 elements the dancers are judged on.

“In addition to increasing the difficulty, 25 percent of our team is brand new to dance team, so we continue to work with them and build their core skills that are needed,” Hemmingsen-Jaeger said. “We continue to emphasize strength and conditioning to ensure that team members are well-rounded athletes.”

Park will be led by senior captains Kelly Krier, Grace Larson, Katie Kershaw and Michaela Flores.

Park starts the season at home with a conference meet on Monday, Dec. 3, at Park High School. The conference championship will be Wednesday, Jan. 16, at Cretin-Derham Hall, with the section meet on Feb. 9 at Bloomington Kennedy.

Tags: 2012-13 winter preview, sports, dance, park, wolfpack, prep, updates