Posted 6/8/26 12:31 pm
Norm Ramil
Feels like true summer with the sticky air outside (across the whole state!) and the early June calendar approaching double-digits. Home routine nights are in a minute, studio recitals and national competitions are full tilt, and I strangely find myself cheering for the Knicks in the NBA finals.
One of the many cool things about working with Maddy Vercelli is the wealth of wisdom and interesting dance nuggets I pick up just by hanging around her for a couple hours at an 8CA clinic, or for 20 minutes on the phone recording a podcast.
@8countaudio National champ / 8CA clinic instructor Maddy Vercelli (U of MN DT) reveals the functional link between pom and other styles of dance!
♬ original sound - 8CountAudio
• So, full credit…as much of a pom fan as I am, it’s pom national champ Maddy who first suggested running a summer clinic with at pom element (in addition to a lyrical-contemporary section).
• Maddy also mentions how pom is a fantastic functional foundation to being a well-rounded dancer…especially if you have your eyes on a possible college dance team spot. Even teams who don’t compete that style will definitely be doing plenty of high-level pom work for game day performances. And arguably, with the way that college football (and to a lesser degree, hoops) and over-the-top media coverage are these days, game day is super VISIBLE.
• As for the pom style itself, you’ll benefit from mastering its strength, power, placement, and isolation skills. Imagine putting those traits in other styles, and it’s easy to see why so many high school teams outside of Illinois value the style even as they also compete in jazz, contemporary, and lyrical styles.
• You can catch that whole episode (#131) here, and the new one (#132) with Coach Paige Hollendonner (Hinsdale South)!
• They’re amazing at BOTH pom and hip hop: Rich Township is looking to fill a JV coaching slot.
• A sharp blog reader pointed out an omission from my last post when I wondered if other dance coaches have made it into the ranks of athletic administrators. Let me shout it out to former Grayslake North coach Keeley Noughton for currently serving as the Knights Athletic Director.
• I’m a big fan of pom and dance coaches advancing into athletic department leadership roles. The exact effect on a dance program (or even potential effects) is best saved for another post, but I’d say that even just the STATUS / STATEMENT VALUE of a former coach of a non-“stick and ball” sport becoming an athletic director is huge.
• Elmwood Poms recently held a fundraiser in their town’s annual Strawberry Festival…and whoever got to buy these pies…needs to invite me over for a slice or two. Paige and I debated whether National Donut Day should even be a June thing (see the new episode), but I’m 100% sure about strawberry pie’s summer status.
• It’s definitely recital time out there — time for rushing and not finding a parking spot, pricey flowers, beloved homemade intermission snacks, and spotting entertaining audience reactions (unless they’re YOUR family member, in which case you’re just embarrassed). Personally I miss going to family dance recitals back in the day at Vernon Hills and Libertyville’s auditoriums. I was the guy who’d buy two bags of puppy chow at the break, for anyone who danced at Talent Forum in the 2010s.
• Lots of credit to Quincy Notre Dame for having so many girls performing with one studio. I’m sure this is fairly common for most dance teams, but I do always hear about teams with members split among different studios. Kind of an assumption here, but I would guess that the consistently good performances by both QND and Quincy HS have much to do with shared studios, maybe?
• Which brings me to this idea. For us in big metro areas, it’s hard to imagine what it’s like for one dance team to depend so much on one studio for developing the skills needed for competing…and, like, 12 to 14 years after a kid starts classes there. One studio source, long incubation time, and it shows up in Bloomington and Springfield many, many years later. And that one studio might be dozens of miles away, a few towns over, with lots of corn in between. So, big props to all the small-town studios around the state for helping all Illinois dance teams look and perform their best.
• We lost an amazing broadcaster, 3x Bulls champ, and all-around hilarious guy Stacey King. I’m in shock. A lot of y’all know I borrowed my “hot sauce” dance commentary line from Stacey (a Bull would make a crazy good play, and he’d exclaim, “Just gimme the hot sauce”) . I couldn’t find a clip of his trademark line, because I think he had SO MANY standout one-liners that his “hot sauce” line was kind of ordinary in comparison. But I do have this gem. Meatballs: spicy.