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

Hmm, am I about to get political? Nope. Clinton, Illinois isn’t at all about that ’90s president or that ’16 presidential candidate. Wikipedia confirmed my hunch that it’s named after DeWitt Clinton, a New York governor from the early 1800s. Why and how? Wikipedia didn’t say. But I do know that the central Illinois town of about 7,200 people sits right in the middle of a diamond-shaped zone traced by Bloomington to the north, Champaign to the east, Decatur to the south, and Lincoln to the west.

So in the world of IHSA dance, that means 1A for Clinton High School’s excellent and fast-rising dance team, the M-Squad. They also have a long history competing in IDTA where they’re a class AA school. I knew they’d made a couple appearances at IHSA state over the past few seasons, but this program really opened my eyes when I saw them dance at the Mahomet-Seymour competition last January.

Official Team Name:

Clinton M-Squad (school mascot: Maroons)

Class:

IHSA 1A, IDTA AA

Conference:

Central Illinois

Coach:

Jenny Gaff

Team Breakdown:

Here’s our email interview with Coach Gaff:

What are your team’s strengths and what are you hoping to improve on this season?

We are excited to improve on our difficulty of our routines this year.  As my first year coaching this team, we learned a lot about what level we need to be at the top. I think we are especially good at improving our dances from the first time they step out on to the gym floor. We are always looking for ways to make our routines better and it is awesome to see the end results at State and how they have changed from the beginning.  

What categories or styles of dance will you compete in?

Lyrical and jazz.

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

Skills required to try out: triple turn, straight legs (with changing spot and without), kick combination, jazz combination, leaps, tricks, toe touch, and all splits.

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

Only two of my girls have been studio trained, which is amazing seeing how all of my girls have the technique of a studio dancer.

What’s the M-Squad’s summer like?

We practice two times a week for two hours over the summer with occasional Saturdays.  We work on conditioning, technique, and learn 3 dances. We had a camp with Brandi Tucker which was amazing this year where we learned a hip hop halftime routine and learned a lot.  We try and team-build as much as we possibly can, from pool parties to team dinners.

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

This year we will be attending 2 IHSA and 3 IDTA competitions starting in December.  We host our own IDTA competition in January which seems to be the biggest IDTA regional competition.  We use basketball games to help us get ready for competitions.

Can you tell us about what a typical practice is like?

During the season we practice Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays for two hours with occasional Saturdays. Our practice always starts with an intricate warm up with lots of cardio and stretching.  Then we do turns, go across the floor, then work on dances. During competition season we usually warm up and work solely on our dances.  

What’s it like to be a prominent team in both IHSA and IDTA?

Last year was my first year coaching.  When I was in high school we only competed in IDTA.  It was very eye-opening to learn about IHSA. Clinton has won state many times in IDTA Class A.  Last year we got moved up to AA which we knew would be a challenge.

We made it our team goal to make it to state finals for the first time in IHSA. After placing 3rd in our IHSA sectional I really thought we could do it. After prelims they were announcing the top 12 teams moving on to finals.  As the 11th team was called, we thought that we probably didn’t make the cut this year. But as she announced the 12th team, which seemed like it took forever, “Clinton M-Squad” finally came out of her mouth. That was a pretty great moment for us last year. Clinton had never moved on to finals and it felt great to accomplish our goal. We placed 7th out of 12 at finals last year which exceeded our expectations. But this year we are coming for a top 3 win.

What are the challenges to being a prominent team that’s not from the St Louis or Chicago areas?

I think it is always a challenge coming from a small town where no one expects you to have a good dance program.  We do not have as many dance studios surrounding us for the girls to attend. I think we are the underdog sometimes in big competitions like IHSA. However, I think we have proven throughout the years that we are a team to watch out for.

Anything about the coaches’ backgrounds and your coaching philosophy?

Jaclynn (my assistant coach), and I grew up dancing at Art in Motion dance studio in Champaign, IL. We basically learned everything we know from Tricia Trimble. We decided to join the M-Squad when we were both Juniors in high school. We then went on to win IDTA State in Class A Jazz both in 2005 and 2006. We then joined Parkland College dance team where we earned 8th place in hip hop at UDA Nationals in Florida. We both had never coached a dance team before, but we knew we had what it takes to transform this team into something great. We love these girls so much; they are like family to us. We don’t push winning, but we do push accomplishing our goals because that is winning for us.

Any favorite memories of last season?

Our favorite memory I would say would be getting 3rd in our Sectional.  After calling 6, 5, 4, the girls got this look on their faces like they had given up and thought they were not advancing to state.  When we got announced 3rd, Jaclynn and I rushed onto the gym floor and tackled all of the girls. We were so proud and knew they needed to give themselves more credit for their outstanding performance that day.  

What are you looking forward to this season?

I think I am looking forward to topping last season. We have so many great ideas for routines and I think we are just ready to make a name for ourselves again and do even better than last year.  

Are you guys big fans of other teams?

I would say we admire Jacksonville and Morris. We love watching their routines every year and always look forward to see what they do next.

Clinton M-Squad at State

IDTA 1992: 1st in Novelty (Small School)

IDTA 2005: Champions in A Dance, 2nd in A Lyrical

IDTA 2006 : Champions in A Dance, 2nd in A Lyrical

IDTA 2007: 2nd in A Dance, 2nd in A Lyrical

IDTA 2008: 7th in A Dance, Champions in A Lyrical, 6th in A Hip Hop

IDTA 2009: Champions in A Dance, 2nd in A Lyrical, 3rd in A Hip Hop

IDTA 2010: 2nd in A Jazz, Champions in A Lyrical, 2nd in A Hip Hop

IDTA 2011: 5th in A Jazz, 4th in A Lyrical, 6th in A Hip Hop

IDTA 2012: 4th in A Jazz, 5th in A Lyrical

IDTA 2013: 10th in A Jazz, 4th in A Lyrical, 6th in A Pom Dance

IDTA 2014: 8th in AA Jazz, 5th in AA Lyrical, 7th in AA Pom Dance

IHSA 2014: 22nd in 1A

IDTA 2015: 6th in AA Jazz, 5th in AA Lyrical/Contemporary, 5th in AA Pom Dance

IDTA 2016: 6th in A Jazz, 2nd in A Lyrical/Contemporary, 7th in A Pom Dance

IHSA 2016: 23rd in 1A

IDTA 2017: 6th in A Jazz, Champions in A Lyrical/Contemporary, 5th in A Pom Dance

IDTA 2018: 2nd in AA Jazz, 3rd in AA Lyrical/Contemporary

IHSA 2018: 7th in 1A (Day 2)