LOCATION:

Wheaton North HS. 701 W. Thomas Rd., Wheaton, IL 60187

TIME:

Sunday, November 17. Starts at 11, awards scheduled for 3:45

TEAM DIVISIONS:

3A, 2A, 1A, and JV

FAN TIPS:

Go to church, have breakfast, keep your Sunday morning chill because it starts at 11! You can go for the modestly sized parking lot just west of the main entrance, but I’ve always liked the diagonal on-street parking on Thomas right in front of the school. There’s another lot in back of the school on the north side of the building where the buses (or is it busses?) congregate. Wheaton North is nestled in between subdivisions, so you’ll want to drive carefully. Recommended: the Lou Malnati’s take-out-only store which is a couple minutes north of the school on Geneva Rd.

2018 Wheaton North comp

Glenbard North at the 2018 Wheaton North comp

Cary Grove at last year’s WN comp

The Prospect Dance program has 5 seasons in the books with plenty of highlights in the past 3 years. Led by a pair of outstanding up-and-coming coaches, this team unleashed their signature style on the Wheaton North floor like they did a year ago. The goal? Get the first comp out of the way, shake out the bugs and hit 3A hard in December. I liked this dance a lot!

Your 2019 1A champs are back with new coaches but the same level of excellence. Brilliant choreography, for sure, but the JCA girls have the technical talent to back it up. It’s rare to see something so artsy work so well visually on a gym floor. Pretty sure this one’s headed for marley downstate. And I’ve gotta add this: every time I get to talk with the team, they’re like the nicest kids anywhere. It’s just a great dance and academic culture at JCA.

These JV dances get better, bigger, sharper, and more sophisticated every year. Here’s Minooka JV showing off their pom toolkit as routine #2. I mentioned on Twitter that there needs to be a JV championship. Actually, there IS. It’s IDTA (the Illinois Drill Team Association). JV teams…go get yo’self a shot at a state trophy with IDTA in February. Message us for deets (and that’s a pun, like, a really awesome one that I’ll explain to you personally if you ask about how to compete in February).

Fremd put out a very different flavor for their 2nd dance of the day at Wheaton North, and it totally caught my attention for all the right reasons. As a fan it’s refreshing to put aside scores, expectations, that whole meat-grinder IHSA vibe, and just enjoy the positivity of an uplifting dance routine. I think that kind of shift is even more special when it’s done by a team as talented as Fremd!

All of a sudden we all live in leo-land, so it’s a breath of fresh air to see the graceful athletes of St. Charles North go with a costume that fits their song perfectly. Their 1st routine of the day had masterful transitions and all the visual hooks you could ever want in a modern-lyrical-jazz piece. Last year showed they could get back to their days of dominating 3A, and their performances at Wheaton North confirms that the epicenter of 3A dance is indeed St. Charles.

DGN is definitely back in the game with this routine. A couple of uncertain seasons are now just a memory, and the program is clicking at both the varsity and JV levels. I really liked how this dance has confidence written all over it. I’m pretty sure the North dancers put in the right amount of offseason tech and conditioning to look so good in mid-November, considering where they were a year ago. Heads up, 3A.

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