by Norm Ramil / 8ca.music.person & dance.fan

Ottawa Township HS has just under 1400 kids according to IHSA’s website, which means it’s roughly the same size as many other 2A dance schools you’d find in the suburbs. Except that Ottawa is its own area in north central Illinois, about 80 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. For you CHI-town folks, Ottawa’s the last big town before exiting I-80 for Starved Rock, so that’s where you’ll want to grab some fast food before your hike through that beautiful state park!

Whether they were dancing as 2A in IHSA or AAA (“triple-A”) in IDTA, the Ottawa Pirate Poms had the jazz and hip hop styles covered last season. The team just missed qualifying for IHSA state by 1 position (0.63 behind 6th). A few weeks later they danced on IDTA’s state stage in Springfield in both the jazz and hip hop categories, earning a 6th and 5th respectively…pretty remarkable for a poms program that doesn’t have a ton of history in competitive dance!

Official Team Name:

Ottawa Pirate Poms

Class:

IHSA 2A, IDTA AAA

Conference:

Northern Illinois Big 12

Coach:

Alaina Weatherford

Team Breakdown:

Here’s our email interview with Coach Weatherford:

Tell us about your team’s technical specialties…

Last year we were very strong in jazz, pom, and hip hop. We lost a very talented group of Seniors last year and I’m only beginning to know the Freshmen. There’s a big difference between Freshmen and Seniors and we don’t have a JV team, so I need to do a lot of technique work with the Freshmen to get them to that level.

What categories or styles of dance will you compete in?

This year we’ll be competing in jazz and pom.

What skills do dancers need to try out for this team?

Girls are required to do a double and triple pirouette, fouette turns, split leap, leap in second, leap of choice, a routine with jazz, pom, and hip hop, a sideline, and a kick line combination. Also, the tryouts are all in one day so they have to learn the material quickly.

Do a lot of your girls have a technical/studio background?

Yes! All of our girls take technical classes at a studio in town. In Ottawa we have 3 dance studios. So, I like to say that I have the best job ever because I get to work with the best dancers from each studio! This is also why we have less practices than some teams, because my girls take so many classes at their studios.

Tell us about your summer and fall team activities, special events, and anything about the process of team-building.

The girls love to do team bonding activities. We occasionally have team dinners at restaurants. I live in the country so I like to have the girls out to my house to hang out, eat, and swim in our pond. Last year we did charity work at the Ronald McDonald House in Oak Lawn in memory of my daughter who passed away. My family stayed at the RMH, so I took the whole team up there. They did lawn work around the house, and baked cookies for the families staying there. They enjoyed that, so we’ll probably do that again. We also attend UDA camp in the summer so we spend our summer practices doing home routine, learning sidelines for the year, and learning our long school song. (It is called the trilogy because it’s actually 3 songs put together!!!)  

Can you tell us more about your performance / competition schedule throughout the year?

In the fall, we perform at all our home football games. We perform in the courtyard with the band when our players walk out and rub the hog’s nose for good luck. We do pregame with our band, and then we do a halftime performance. Our band is the current State Champion and they’re amazing, so we put a lot of time into our halftime performance. We have field practice with them every Thursday before a home football game. In the winter we perform at every home basketball game. Last year was the first time our squad went from a halftime performance team to a competitive team, so we’re very new to the scene. We competed IDTA and IHSA last year and will do that again this year.

What’s the practice schedule like?

During football season we practice Tuesday mornings before school, Thursday nights from 6-8 PM, and Saturday mornings from 8-10. We’ll add another practice during the week for competition this year.

What goes on at a typical practice and does this change throughout the year? And what’s your practice space like?

Football season practices consist of learning and running each week’s routine. When we have time we work our turn and leap technique. For competition, we work technique, the routines, and last year we put the girls through some CrossFit workouts. My husband is a CrossFit trainer so he put them to work! We practice in a different space each night. Our largest gym is Kingman Gym. It’s an amazing space. We have a smaller gym named West Gym. And occasionally we’re in a multipurpose room that’s used for PE classes during the day. We do not have a dance room or any space with mirrors. That’s one of my goals: to eventually get mirrors in the multipurpose room.

Anything about the coaches’ backgrounds and coaching philosophy?

This will only be my 3rd year coaching at OHS. The last 2 years I did not have an assistant, but now that we’re competitive, I have a volunteer assistant coach named Maddie Steep this year. I grew up as a studio dancer and was also a dance major in college before switching to elementary education. So, I believe the girls need great technique. I always say, I can take a trained ballerina and teach her to use poms, but it’s hard to go the other way. The girls would probably tell you I’m very intense, especially at practices. But, I think they also know I love them and would do anything for them.

Any favorite memories of last season?

My favorite memory was the day we spent at the Ronald McDonald House. It was very special to me and my family. We qualified for IDTA State, so that was exciting. One of our girls qualified for State Finals in the soloist competition and seeing her excitement was something I’ll always cherish.

What are you looking forward to this season?

Even though last year was our first year competing, we made it a goal to make IHSA State. We placed 7th at Sectionals, and missed that by 6 tenths of a point. That was pretty hard to swallow. So, I’m looking forward to trying for that goal again this year.

Anything about the program’s history, its achievements over the years, or any alums that have danced at the college level?

We have some alums who dance/ have danced on the ISU dance team. One of our alums is currently a dance major at Oklahoma City University. It’s an amazing program, so we are extremely proud of her. One of last year’s seniors will be a Golduster at Purdue next year, and we’re excited for her.

Are there other teams you guys admire?

Morris is in our conference, so we see them at our conference competition and we’re always in awe of them. Also, when we decided to compete, their coach, Becky, was so helpful to me, sharing her wisdom.

Fun / quirky facts about the team and its members, or any extra things you’d like to add:

It’s a huge change for our squad going from a halftime performance team to a competitive team in the IHSA series. We are pretty unknown in the competitive world of Illinois Dance, but we’re hoping to change all that!

Ottawa Pirate Poms at State

2018 IHSA Sectionals: 7th

2018 IDTA State: 5th in AAA Hip Hop, 6th in AAA Jazz