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

Alright, Illinois dancers…it’s time for a virtual summer road trip! We’re so thrilled to get to know our first Iowa dance team, the Raiderettes from Sioux City East High School! If you’re not from the Hawkeye State, Iowa high school dance teams compete in the ISDTA (the Iowa State Dance And Drill Team Association). Their state championship is on the final weekend in November, so dance teams in Iowa are pretty busy throughout the fall with football and intense practices. Many teams then spend the rest of their winter competing in UDA or NDA.

Sioux City…and yeah, it’s pronounced “sue”… is the major population center in the western part of that state, so it has 3 high schools plus a Catholic high school to serve its 82,000 residents. The town is right on the Missouri River, and its surrounding suburbs spill over into Nebraska and South Dakota. My fave fun fact? The whole region is sometimes called Siouxland and its residents “Siouxlanders,” which sounds a lot like one of my fave Will Ferrell movies.

Thanks goes out to Sioux City East’s Coach Kellen for giving us a little background on her team!

Official Team Name

Sioux City East Raiderettes

Class

(Iowa ISDTA 2017 Finals) Class III Lyrical, Class VII Jazz, Class VIII Hip Hop

Coach

Kayla Kellen

Team Breakdown

Here’s our email interview with Coach Kellen:

Tell us about your team’s technical specialties…

As a dance studio owner, I stress the importance of technique. We work on technical skills and stress turns, flexibility and jumps that are incorporated in our routines.

Which categories will you be competing in?

Our varsity group competes in Jazz, Lyrical, and Hip Hop. We also have a coed team that competes, and a JV team that we combine with for a Show Production.

What skills are required to try out for the team?

Dancers come for 3 days of tryout practice. They learn a hip hop and a jazz routine. They have to show their turns, splits, leaps and the routines they learned for a panel of judges.

Do your dancers have studio / technical backgrounds?

The majority of the team does have studio training. Many still take classes and compete with their studios in addition to the training they get on the high school team.

Tell us about what the team does with its summer and fall…

Our first official “event” as a team is our choreography sessions. For the past three years, we have brought in Alex Blitstein to do our jazz and lyrical choreography. He does a masterclass with local dancers and then teaches our choreography. After our time with Alex, we go to camp. We rent a church camp about 2 hours from our school and we practice their routines, learn our football routines, and do tons of team-building. They aren’t allowed to have their phones, which is a great way to get them to bond and get to know each other. We play team-building games and all of the dancers come away from the experience so much closer. We do a lot of community service throughout the summer and fall, helping out local groups and organizations with various activities.

What is your performance and competition schedule like?

We perform at every home football game, the homecoming parade, and we host a show in the fall for local dance teams to get practice before our state competition, which is at the end of November. If there are any competitions nearby before state, we will compete for the extra practice and judge’s feedback. Many of the other local schools host a fall show that we perform at as well.  After state, we typically do a local competition, or we will travel to a regional or national competition. We dance at most of the home basketball games and to finish our season, we host a dance clinic for younger dancers and a spring show, where we perform our dances one last time and bid farewell to our seniors. This is my favorite performance, because I get to see how far they have come in the course of the year.

What is the team’s practice schedule like, and what kind of practice space do you use?

We typically practice 3-4 times per week from 6-7:15am. When we get closer to state, we practice 5 days a week with additional Saturday practices.

We practice in our school’s gym, which is why we practice in the mornings. We are typically the only group to have morning practices, so there are less conflicts. In the summer, we clean lyrical, hip hop, and jazz on Mondays and Wednesdays, and a technique practice with both teams on Tuesdays and JV practices on Thursdays. During the summer, we utilize the Middle School gym for our practices as our gym is typically closed.

What’s a typical Raiderettes practice like?

Each practice starts with a group warm up and stretch led by the captains of each team. Their warm up is cardio-based, especially in the winter when their muscles are cold from the weather. After warming up and stretching, the teams split to work on their routines. The bulk of our practices are spent cleaning, making sure each dancer is moving the same way at the same time and that their formations are neat and visual. If we have a performance, such as a football game, we focus on state routines for half of practice and our performance routine for the remaining half. Things get a little more complicated when we throw coed and show production into the mix, but by that time, our other routines are pretty much competition-ready, so we can share some of the focus to make those routines stellar as well.

Can you tell us about your coaching background?

Currently, I am the only coach. I was an assistant coach for a year, and then I spent 2 years at another high school, and now I am on my 4th year as head coach. I started dancing 22 years ago at a studio, and after just one short season, I insisted my parents enroll me in every class and convention available. I danced on the Raiderettes in high school and was captain my senior year, so I love that I get to coach the team now. After high school, I studied Musical Theatre at the University of South Dakota before opening my own dance studio and starting my coaching career. I want my dancers to have strong technique, be stewards of good character, and have fun. I care about their memories and I try to do as much as I can to give them the best experience in the four short years I have them.

Any favorite memories from the past season?

We had a lot of great memories last season, so picking a favorite is tough. The one that stands out the most would be our trip to Minneapolis for the UDA Spirit of America competition. When we arrived, the girls were given a choice. They could go watch the University of Minnesota Dance Team, or they could visit the kids staying at the Ronald McDonald House. They chose the Ronald McDonald House. We got to tour the facility, meet the children and families staying there, and perform their routines. The highlight for us was a little girl named Jovi who required oxygen. Her mom told us that while they performed, her oxygen levels were the highest they’d ever been- she was basically breathing on her own for the first time in her life! She smiled and gave high fives to the girls and was just so happy to see them all. As the girls finished their tour, they passed out handmade candy bags to each of the kids and said good bye. They gave great performances the next day and did very well, but their favorite part of the trip was their visit to RMH. In my coaching career, I have won 8 state championships, but this was the proudest moment I have ever had as a coach.

What is your team looking forward to this season?

I think our routines this year will be very strong. Our choreography is the best we’ve ever had, and our group works so well together. Over half of our team are seniors, so this is the most experienced we will be for a while.

What are some past highlights of the Sioux City East dance program?

We have won the state championship in Show Production for the past 7 years in a row. We are known for creative themes, choreography, and great props and set. We have also been recognized for outstanding community service and academic honors for the past two years. Several of our dancers have danced in college at The University of Iowa, Iowa State University, University of South Dakota, Morningside College, University of Northern Iowa, Central College, South Dakota State University, Western Iowa Tech Community College, and The University of Michigan.

Which teams are your dancers big fans of?

The girls really look up to their former teammates who have danced on the teams listed above. They enjoy watching the college nationals to see their routines. We love watching The University of Minnesota and The Ohio State University Dance Teams.

Can you throw in some extra fun facts about your dancers?

Our team members also participate in a wide variety of activities at East High School. From Volleyball to Show Choir, our girls participate in just about every activity offered.

For dancers reading this who don’t compete in Iowa, can you give us some background on your state’s competitive dance scene?

Dance Team in Iowa is different from other states because most of our schools do not recognize Dance as a sanctioned sport. This has its advantages as well as disadvantages, but overall, Dance is still popular across the state. We have the largest State-run competition in America and it is a very tough competition. Iowa is also unique because our state competition is so early in the season. Other states have regionals or other competitions before their state contest, but ours is usually the first time these teams compete and in some cases, their first actual performance. ​