Grundy Center Dance Team to participate at State Championship

GRUNDY CENTER – On December 5, the Grundy Center Dance Team (GCDT) will be competing in the 2020 Iowa State Dance & Drill Team Association (ISDTA) Championships in Des Moines. They will be competing in Class V Pom at 8:33 am and Small School Hoopla 5:05 pm both in Wells Fargo Arena.

“We would love to see the community at state dance because as a team, we put in loads of hard work to prepare for this important performance. We have two minutes to give it our all, and that’s what we’re going to do this year down at Wells Fargo,” said Senior Anessa Smith.

To help prepare for this championship, the community is invited to a state sendoff in the High School North Gym Monday, December 2 at 7:30 pm following boys basketball practice.

This team started working back in June and all of it leads up to this championship.

“We begin every summer going back to the basics. Working on strength and placement of our motions as well as posture and carriage,” said Cara Doak, coach of GCDT for 13 years. “This year it was especially important because this team had very little dance background prior to June as four of the eight dancers are new to GCDT.”

Following the summer months, preparation continued with a focus on mastering state choreography and learning new, more advanced skills. The many hours of hard work and preparation will come to a head December 5.

“We put so much energy and dedication forth both in and out of practice. We actually spend more hours out of practice preparing. After all the work, it is the best feeling to spirit off the state dance floor and know we did our best,” said 3-year letter winner, Molli Craig.

Iowa is home to the largest high school dance team competition in the country. On Dec. 5 and 6 nearly 5000 high school and college students will compete at the Iowa State Dance & Drill Team (ISDTA) 44th Annual Iowa State Dance Team Championship in Des Moines.

“For more than 40 years ISDTA has been promoting the sports of dance and drill team,” said Andrea Dana, executive director for ISDTA. “Like many of Iowa’s athletic tournaments, the Iowa State Dance Team Championship involves a lot of pageantry and tradition. But make no mistake, these students are here to compete and they want to win.”

Competition categories include pom, hip hop, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, military, kick, hoopla, light, novelty, prop, color guard, all male, co-ed, and show production. Teams are divided into classes based on school enrollment. They are evaluated and judged by industry professionals from all corners of the United States.

Twenty-four college teams and 254 high school teams make up the 600 routines that will be performed in a two-day period. Teams earn points for choreography, execution, difficulty and showmanship.

Performers will take the floor at Wells Fargo Arena and Hy-Vee Hall beginning Thursday morning at 8 a.m. and will continue through Friday evening.