Featured Team: Libertyville
by Norm Ramil / 8ca.music.person & dance.fan
The last time Libertyville didn’t dance at a state contest, some freshmen on the team probably hadn’t hit their first birthdays yet.
Since then, 2A teams across the Chicago area have had to watch out for Libertyville every weekend during competition season. They’ve cemented their place in the usual list of suspects who make up the Day 2 field at IHSA state. Not only do they have a tradition of long bus rides downstate in late January (and in February and March before IHSA), but the LHS dancers are led by coaches who also had plenty of state experience as dancers themselves.
Official Team Name:
Libertyville Dance Team (school mascot: Wildcats)
Class:
IHSA 2A
Conference:
North Suburban
Coaches:
Varsity: Head Coach Casey Dugan (4th season coaching varsity after coaching JV for 3 years; danced for 4 years on this team), Assistant Coach Jordyn Cohen (danced 4 years at Stevenson)
JV: Coach Meghan Ryan
Team Breakdown:
21 varsity dancers: 7 seniors, 7 juniors, 5 sophomores, 2 freshmen
The Libertyville Dance Team crafted 2 dances for competition season, and by early January, they were down to the lyrical routine we all saw at IHSA state on both days. But the story starts last summer at UDA camp when the Libertyville dancers, led by a tightly knit group of 7 seniors, worked hard, had a lot of laughs, and forged a unified team identity. Scroll on down for the interview with Becca, Kelly, and Greta, but one thing that the transcript can’t quite capture are the knowing looks and unspoken inside jokes between the girls as they laughed about camp last summer!
I caught up with the team in October at an ordinary after school practice in the cafeteria, whose layout makes it a little challenging to go full-formations all the time (especially when running through football routines). On the other hand, Coach Dugan and her dancers make creative use of the space. Barre exercises with no barre? Folded up lunch tables work well!
After running outside and a technique session, Varsity and JV had the usual football-related work to do, including getting ready for that weekend’s kids camp. I also had the chance to chat with 3 dancers who’ve been together on this team since they were freshmen:
Becca, Kelly, Greta
What’s everyone’s dance backgrounds?
B: I’ve been dancing since I was 3-ish and started taking it seriously when I was in 6th grade. I did studio all the way through and still do [at Dance Academy of Libertyville].
K: I started dancing when I was 11 (when Becca and I started dancing together) and I’ve been dancing at Dance Academy ever since.
G: Same with Becca, I danced at a studio growing up. I started when I was 3 or 4. I was on a dance company when I was in 6th through 8th grade.
Me (to Kelly): Since you started later, what was it like catching up?
K: It was kind of a shock when I first got into dance because I didn’t start with traditional ballet–I started in a jazz class. So I just kind of had to catch up and learn really quickly. And I was in gymnastics growing up when I like 5 to 10, so I kind of caught on and I had the flexibility.
Favorite style of dance to perform?
G: I like lyrical the best, and we kind of specialize in lyrical, so it’s super fun to get to show what I love as well as what our team’s good at.
K: I like doing contemporary because usually the music is different and I like dancing that way. But I also really like doing pom because it’s high energy and all the tricks; it’s a lot of fun.
B: I like lyrical as well. Like Greta said, our team specializes in it. It’s fun to put your emotion into something. It’s a little different than regular expression.
Favorite style to watch?
G: I like pom. It’s fun to watch and you get energized by it. When the movements are hard, you really admire those dancers.
K: I think my favorite is hip hop because it’s so fun, so much energy, and all the tricks…it’s so much fun to watch.
B: I like a good, intense jazz. I get goosebumps when I watch it.
What makes this team so good at lyrical?
G: I think our dedication. Over the months, honestly, this is such a long sport. Lyrical, you can kind of dedicate yourself to the song or put your own story into it. All 21 of us, we have our own story, and I think it’s interesting to see how everyone puts their own spin to it.
K: A lot of us have danced together…like we’ve been in this program all 4 years together. So we have all the same story to look back on. So when we’re dancing, we can put that together more as a team.
B: Lyrical, it’s one of the only styles where you can put your own spin on it. With pom, you have to do everything the same. Lyrical, it’s open to interpretation.
Is there a team skill that you guys are all really good at?
(All 3): Turns.
Me: Probably. I’d say that. Most people would say that, watching you guys.
What’s something you want to work on that you’re pretty good at, but that you want to get really good at?
G: Probably switches?
K: Yeah, switch centers and leaps.
G: We’re all getting there, but as a team we can obviously improve on them more.
Are you guys fans of other teams?
G: Stevenson! (agreed by all 3)
B: We love them.
G: Having a big team like us, we kind of look up to them, because it’s definitely hard to clean so many people.
What will this team be like by sectionals?
G: Tired!
K: In football season, we get the fun, cute routines. But then when competition season comes, it’s like get there, do what you gotta do. But our coaches always do a good job of trying to keep up the positivity. We have different focuses for each day. We have energy, trust…what are the other ones?
G: Family.
B: Competition.
K: So that’s going to help us stay motivated. Because when it’s cold and we’re tired, it’s hard to keep it up.
What’s your favorite part about comp season?
(all 3): Performing.
B: Last year at sectionals, we had the best performance. There was such high energy. And we talk about it all the time. We’re all so excited for that, when you just feel the energy in the room with your parents and the audience.
G: And it’s when all your hard work finally pays off when you see the results you want.
K: …not even, like placing. In that moment, it didn’t matter what place we got because we were so happy with our performance.
What’s one thing you want people to know about your team?
K: I think we’re all about one big family. We love to dance, we love to do it together. We’re all such a close-knit group of girls. We always push each other and ourselves to do better.
G: We’re all different ages but we come together to do something we love.
B: We’re sisters.
The team looked great at Fremd, where they placed 2nd and 3rd with their pom and lyrical routines. Coach Dugan and Cohen guided the dancers to a 1st at Lake Zurich, and then the challenging back-to-back task of dancing at Vernon Hills and Stevenson on the same weekend. They danced to a 1st and 3rd on Saturday, following that up with a 3rd on Sunday in Lincolnshire.
After facing a loaded field of elite teams at conference and again at Rolling Meadows, Libertyville took their gorgeous lyrical routine to sectionals at Warren. They punched their tickets to the Bloomington marley by placing 5th with a 91.83.
They were just one spot away from making it 5 years in a row of dancing on Saturday (Day 2) at IHSA state last year. This time, the Coaches Dugan and Cohen made sure to lock up a place in the final round with a strong Friday performance: 9th with an 87.12. These ladies fought hard and brought home a 7th in state the next day, scoring an 88.52 among some outstanding 2A teams.
Bringing it back to that windy October Tuesday when I dropped in on their practice, I remember sensing a lot of excitement and optimism with this team. The captains I spoke with earlier came back out in the hall with the other seniors to chat more Libertyville dance:
Gigi, Ellie, Paula, *Becca, *Greta, Mikaila, *Kelly
(* = see above for their separate convo)
Favorite part about being on this team?
Gi: My favorite part is the energy. Everyone’s very expressive with their emotions, and loud and fun. It makes…even when we’re doing serious stuff, very fun, still.
E: Just getting to know the girls and becoming close with people that you wouldn’t know before, like in other grades. Some of my best friends are from poms.
P: Spending 10 months together really opens new doors and adventures, meeting all new people.
B: I just love forming a family with my friends here.
Gr: I think the bond is different from other teams because we spend so much time together, and the dedication that goes into it.
M: It’s such a big variety of girls, like from middle schools we come from or friend groups…we get to meet a lot of different people.
K: I guess I’ll say the same as everyone else!
Me: Yeah, I know it’s hard to go at the end of a big group!
Was there a moment this summer or fall when you knew you guys were bonded as a team?
(All): UDA camp.
Gi: Everything is so much funnier there. We obviously all take it seriously, going to camp, learning new technique and everything. But the nights spent in the lobby, and just doing different classes, it’s just a different setting to be with people for 8 hours a day for 4 days.
M: It’s just so intense and I think we all bond over practicing dances at night. It really brings us closer.
K: At normal practices you’re with each other for maybe like 2 hours after school, but at camp you’re with each other day to night, every hour of the day. So you really get to open up. We have this tradition each year. You tape a piece of paper on each other’s backs and you write compliments or things you’ve noticed, things you’re proud of. It makes us grow as a team.
P: And this year we made the most of what we had. There were only 3 teams there. But we still had the most fun…like I’ve had in all my 4 years. We were so energetic. We were living every hour of the day having the best time of our lives.
What’s it like for all of you to be 4-year dancers?
P: We stuck together!
K: We’re all extremely close.
Gi: We’re really like sisters.
M: And we all have so many memories all the way back to freshman year.
Gi: You really get to see people grow (everyone laughs). Not in a mean way, but like how bad of a dancer maybe they were coming in, to how good they are now.
E: I mean we (pointing to Greta) bonded at tryouts freshman year. It’s just so funny how far we’ve all come together.
K: I came from a very small middle school, and all the other girls went to other middle schools. So being on this team got me to be with them. Now we’re all so close. It’s like I have…six other sisters!
Being such a close group of 7 seniors, do you feel like you have an advantage going into the season?
P: We all have each other’s backs. If we have a problem with something we know we can rely on each other to fix it and solve anything.
Gr: And we know what it takes to do what we have to do and we’re on the same page. The motivation level is all there.
B: We make time to hang out outside of practice. Inside of practice there’s only so much you can do but outside is really where you make your true bond.
E: And we try to show the younger girls coming into it that it doesn’t matter what friend group you’re in. You will be just as close with all these girls. It’s a really positive thing for everyone.
M: And since all of us have been in the program for 4 years, we can learn from mistakes or things that did not work well in past years, and we all have that collective experience. We can grow from it and encourage all of our teammates to grow from it also.
Libertyville Dance at State
IDTA 1996: 5th in AAA Pom Dance
IDTA 2001: 5th in AAA Hip Hop
IDTA 2004: 2nd in AA Dance
IDTA 2006: 5th in AAA Hip Hop
TDI 2007: state qualifier
TDI 2008: 5th in AAA Hip Hop; 10th in AAA Open Dance
TDI 2009: 2nd in AA Lyrical; 6th in AA Hip Hop
TDI 2010: 2nd in AA Lyrical; 4th in AA Open Pom
TDI 2011: 5th in AA Open Dance; 4th in AA Open Pom
TDI 2012: 6th in 3A Open Pom; 8th in 3A Hip Hop
IHSA 2013: 23rd in 3A (Day 1)
IHSA 2014: 6th in 2A (Day 2)
IHSA 2015: 2nd in 2A (Day 2)
IHSA 2016: 3rd in 2A (Day 2)
IHSA 2017: 5th in 2A (Day 2)
IHSA 2018: 13th in 2A (Day 1)
IHSA 2019: 7th in 2A (Day 2)
One last thing:
I asked Coach Dugan for some thoughts on her team’s season:
“There were so many highs this season for our program. This year we really focused on our culture as a program and implementing core values for every day of the week. Each practice started and ended with that core value being the focus.”
“We also maintained a standard that we only focus on what we could control and let go of the uncontrollables. Our ‘mantra’ all year was ‘winning is our goal, not our purpose.’ Our purpose is much greater than one performance or one score.”
“With that being said, we had many highs this year. The Varsity team placed 1st at the Lake Zurich and Vernon Hills invite and double placed both routines at Fremd and Vernon Hills Invites. After placing 5th in our sectionals, they came back the next week to place 9th in prelims and move up to two spots to 7th in the state finals.”
“While all of those placements made for a successful competitive season, we had highs beyond the court. The team absolutely loved performing their routine to “Waves” and love of dance was evident in their performance.”
And favorite memories for the girls? “They would probably say their favorite memories were the bus rides to and from competitions and staying overnight at the hotel for state. They came together and truly brought a whole new meaning to the word family.”
