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

Judging by everyone’s Snapchat stories this summer, Chicago’s a popular place to visit before school starts up again. What you might not know is that Chi-town is sometimes called “a city of neighborhoods,” a quilt of 77 communities within the city’s borders. Over on the Southwest Side is the Eric Solorio Academy, where around 1,200 kids from the Gage Park neighborhood attend high school.

The building isn’t even a decade old but Solorio has already achieved IHSA success in 2A soccer with a 2017 state title. As for our sport, you might not know a ton about dance teams in the CPS (Chicago Public Schools) system, but the Solorio Poms are a great place to start! I first came across these dancers at one of ISU’s UDA camps last summer. They wore these eye-catching “E.S.A Squad Goals” shirts and I soon figured out a couple things. First, E.S.A. stood for their high school name (Eric Solorio is a fallen Chicago police officer from that neighborhood). Second, the girls shined on home routine night even without a routine to perform. They just looked like a fun, happy, ready-to-learn kind of group, exactly the right attitude for summer dancers!

The team came in 2nd at the Chicago Public League’s dance team championships, where they faced some big-name, talented programs. Tryouts came in late May (the CPS schools have quite a different calendar than most of the dancers reading this…they start after Labor Day and go through late June). Just in the past month, the Solorio Poms celebrated another breakthrough at camp with their first-ever All-American dancer!

Thanks goes out to Coach Laura Kroncke for taking the time to share details on her team with us!

Official Team Name:

Eric Solorio Academy High School Poms (school mascot: Sun Warriors)

Class:

IHSA 2A

Conference:

Chicago Public League

Coach:

Laura Kroncke

Team Breakdown:

16 dancers (freshmen try out in the fall)

Here’s our email interview with Coach Kroncke:

Can you tell us about your team’s dance backgrounds?

99% of the members of the team join with no dancing background. In the five years we have been a team, we have only had 3 members who have had formal dance training prior to joining the team.

None of our girls have a technical or studio background which makes our team so special. The girls that join the team are extremely hard working and have drastic transformations in skills throughout the year. It is always a challenge to get team single pirouettes, but last year we had half of our team landing clean double pirouettes during our competition dance.

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

Tryouts consist of learning a short dance routine which has basic technique including: a kickline, a single pirouette, a leap, and a toe touch jump.

Can you tell us about what your team does during the summer and then during the school year?

During the summer, we are fortunate to be able to participate in UDA summer camp. We have attended camp at ISU and U of I. This summer we will be attending camp at EIU. Camp is a time where our team is able to bond, especially the new members. Throughout the school year we have team bonding activities like end of season parties (football, basketball, competition) and holiday parties. This year, we hosted the Spring Fling dance which we turned into a 90s-themed danceathon.

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

Our team performs at most home football games and basketball games. We also perform at the homecoming pep rally. We have competed in the CPS city competitions the past three years in small pom and then large pom. Last year was our first year competing in IHSA, and we were able to attend the Oak Forest competition as well as sectionals. We have also had some unique opportunities to perform for various news broadcasts that have taken place at our school.

What’s the practice schedule like for your team?

We typically practice 3-4 days a week for 2 hours. We start practice with cardio conditioning and stretching. After that, we work on learning and cleaning routines for upcoming performances. We have a very small practice space which is actually used as the freshmen cafeteria during the school day, and we split that with the folkloric dance team. We have a great athletic director who works around our limited facilities for all teams to fit us into the gym occasionally so that we can work on formations. There are rumors that our principal is working on a secret dance team space project over the summer.

Anything about the coaches’ backgrounds and your coaching philosophy?

I was initially a cheerleading coach at Solorio for a year. I was a member of Schaumburg High School poms in 2003-2007, and competed in pom and kick. After high school, I started a club dance team at Illinois State University called Impact Dance Team. While cheerleading was fun, I wanted to give students the opportunity to participate in dance. I coached the Solorio poms team alone for three years, and had the most amazing assistant coach this year, Robin Purman, who will be moving home to Minnesota and starting a dance team at her new school. Both coaches focus on teaching skills and improving performances while having fun. The focus is not on winning, but doing better than the last time.

Any favorite memories from last season?

Our favorite memory of last season was winning 2nd place at the CPS city competition as well as competing in IHSA. Prior to last year we placed last and 3rd at city respectively. Competition at IHSA was a big milestone for us because it seemed intimidating. We had a great time at the Oak Forest competition because the coaches and team members were so welcoming and made us feel welcome. We also graduated our first group of 4-year members (6 of them!).

What are you looking forward to this season?

We are looking forward to learning new dances and improving skills. We are also excited to decide on a competition routine theme and music!

What are some of the unique circumstances or challenges that you and other CPS teams face?

There are many challenges that CPS teams face. There is a lack of funding for dance/cheerleading coaching so many CPS schools do not have cheerleading or dance teams. Other issues are with funding for athletics in general. Most teams have to fundraise for all team expenses which can be difficult. Aside from financial issues, a lot of schools do not have adequate practice facilities for dance teams. Several CPS schools do have dance studios or cardio rooms, but that is not the norm. As with most dance teams, priority for gym space is given to other sports who rely on it. We have learned to practice where we fit! Despite these challenges, CPS dance teams do significantly well with many of the teams placing in IHSA and going to state.

What would you like the rest of the Illinois dance community to know about your program and your dancers?

Our school is known as a gem on the Southwest side of Chicago, and it can be argued that so is our dance team. We work extremely hard to fill in the gaps in technical skills and experience. There are many challenges that our dancers face from the environment in which they live, but they are extremely resilient and do not let it affect their commitment to the team.

Are there other teams you and your dancers admire?

We have met so many amazing teams throughout our journey in IHSA, UDA, and CPS! All of the CPS teams are so unique and bring special skills to their performances. We admire all of the CPS teams for different reasons. Two particular teams we admire/have built bonds with in CPS are Taft and Whitney Young. Taft and Whitney Young always bring unmatched energy to their performances. A non-CPS team we have spent several years with at camp is Streator High School. Their routines are high energy and have extremely difficult technique that their dancers execute flawlessly.

Let’s hear about your team’s fun and/or quirky facts…

1) Most of our dancers are bilingual in English and Spanish
2) One of our seniors was crowned prom queen this year
3) Our team motto is “Si, se puede” which (loosely) translates to “Yes, we can!”
4) We are truly student-athletes- we maintained a 3.0+ team GPA with many team members receiving a 4.0+