WELLMAN

The coach was new. The assistant coach was new. Of the 11 girls, only two were upperclasswomen. When Mid-Prairie’s dance team showed up for their first practice in June, they knew that this team, this season, this year was a wild card.

On December 1, they found they held a winning hand. Four trophies went home with the team when they returned from State competition in Des Moines. One of them was in the hands of a champion.

“One thing that was difficult coming into this is I didn’t know anything about the area, about the school, about the girls, about the team and what the team has done in the past,” coach Brenna Hutson says. “I was kind of flying blind.”

The graduate of Newton High School and St. Ambrose University let her experience and mentors guide her, but ultimately she gives credit to her team of dancers, who are close-knit and hold great affection and respect for one another. They also want to win.

“It helps that the girls are super-passionate about dance, and that they’re super driven. They want to do well, and that helps a lot,” Hutson says. “When you have a team of girls who care about what they’re doing, and they want to work hard, and they want to actually be there, it makes a huge difference.”

The result of that hard work: placing second in Jazz, fourth in Pom, and fielding two Class V soloists -- Drea McCain, who placed first, and Meadow Flynn, who placed fifth at State competition. The team finishes will go up on a banner in the high school gym; the soloists will see their names on the Mid-Prairie Wall of Fame.

The Road to Victory

Dancers Fiona Brady, Maelys Beachy, Jocelyn Bobbitt, Meadow Flynn, Emma Hendricks, Lily Hendricks, Ariel Kaufman, Paige Malichky, Drea McCain, Ireland McCain, and Carly Nickell didn’t just show up to State and wing it; as a team, they’ve been working hard for months.

“We start our practices the first week of summer, right when school gets out in June,” Hutson says. “Our summer practices are a lot of team-building and learning the technique and what’s expected for the team.”

Many of the dancers first learned to dance at very young ages; for example, Drea says she began at age 2 and Meadow at age 6. Their studio work helps them develop as individuals, but being part of a dance team requires different technical aspects and awareness. This is where summer practice begins.

It continues with stretching, flexibility work, and breaking down the needed skills for dancers with less experience.

“Summer, to me, is the most important part of our season,” Hutson says. “It’s the growth part, so if you’re missing that, you’re missing a huge backbone of your season.”

The dance team started performing with the July 4 parade in Wellman. They then danced at football games in the fall, which included the school’s first Homecoming parade and a few pep rallys; competed at All-Iowa tryouts, where five dancers made the All-Iowa Honor Dance Team; competed at the State Solo Qualifiers, where Drea and Meadow placed in the top ten; attended the Central Iowa Critique Clinic; performed at DTU regionals, where they placed third in Pom and fourth in Jazz; and performed their state routines at St. Ambrose University.

As they closed in on State, their workouts increased in intensity and duration. They worked with Rob Langeneckert at Superior Sports Performance (SSP), a business that focuses on dance and cheer, and were led through routine-specific workouts designed to increase the dancers’ strength, stamina, and control. Ultimately, the dancers found themselves at a four-hour practice, designed to help their performance peak at exactly the right time.

Although the dance team is classified as Performing Arts rather than a sport at Mid-Prairie, the dancers know themselves to be athletes. Coach Hutson says she holds her team to the same standards as athletes in other sports would be.

“When we have our first meeting of the season, I have bylaws wrote up, and it says first thing, dance is a sport and you will be treated like athletes and you will be held to the exact same standards as any other sport at the school,” Hutson says. “I hold them to the same standard because they work just as hard, if not harder, than some sports for longer.”

Unlike some sports, where a loss of points over a fumbled play can be reversed in a second, third, or fourth quarter, dancers don’t get a chance to redeem themselves or make a comeback.

Ultimately, they get just two minutes to perform.

What Really Matters

“I felt like it was really fast. I was like, wait, how is it already over? I feel like, all of this build-up for just that two-minute dance?” Maelys says of her experience at the State competition in Des Moines on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.

Meadow acknowledged some nervousness before competing as a soloist, but she “just got it over with. At least it’s only two minutes long,” she says.

Two minutes.

Those two minutes may have brought them deserved success and recognition, but it seems trophies weren’t the most important part of State competition for the girls. In fact, it took Meadow an entire week to unpack her trophy, and when she did, a piece broke off. But that doesn’t worry her.

“It’s ok,” she says. “I have a hot glue gun and I hot-glued the top part back on.”

It seems the dancers’ enduring memories will be of each other.

Maelys says being able to spend the night in Des Moines with her teammates made her feel a lot closer to them. Paige agrees; “I liked being able to stay with the girls,” she says.

Ariel says State was “so much fun bonding with everyone in a new way that wasn’t just practices.” Ireland says her second year at State was “a lot more fun” and “no drama.”

Jocelyn didn’t dance at state, but “I did love watching the girls do what they could do,” she says. “Seeing them actually perform, knowing that it’s so much better than they have ever done in practice, it was just really awesome.”

“It was really fun this year. It was different because of the new coach, there was new people,” Drea says. “I feel like we were a lot more connected this year than we were last year.”

“The girls and I not only enjoyed performing together, but also cheering on our competitors and fellow dancers,” Emma says. “It has truly been a break for fresh air to have our new coach. She fights for us, cheers us on, and pushes us to reach our greatest potential as dancers and people.”

As the young ladies continue to perform for audiences in the new year, they all have hopes and dreams for who they will become. Dancers, dance teachers, choreographers – they all see dance in their future lives. But for the moment, one thought seems to dominate.

“I’m excited to get closer to the team.”