After capturing all three Illinois Drill Team Association State Titles in jazz, lyrical and hip hop last season, the Edwardsville Tiger Dance team has punched their first ever ticket to the IHSA State competition.
The Tigers took second place in the Effingham (St. Anthony) Sectional this weekend with a score of 90.03. They will now to travel to Bloomington, Ill. next Friday to perform in the preliminary round at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum with the finals being held on Saturday.
“When they called our name I was extremely happy,” sophomore dancer Grace Northcutt said. “Everyone was screaming and crying because all of the long practices had paid off, it was honestly really relieving.”
Three years ago the IHSA implemented competitive dance into their arsenal of sports with the top six teams from five different sectionals moving on to compete at the state competition. After excelling at the IDTA State competition the past couple of years this will be a new challenge for the Tigers.
“We have only been competing with IHSA for the past three years but this is the first time we have qualified for state,” junior dancer Ally Stopka said. “The main difference between IDTA and IHSA is that IHSA has provided a lot more competition for us in the last few years and IHSA is more recognized by the school and other organizations outside of dance team.”
The Tiger Dance squad outlasted fellow Southwestern Conference opponent O’Fallon who finished third in the sectional with a score of 89.57 as Minooka claimed the sectional crown with 94.30 points. Rounding out the top six teams advancing to state next weekend were Lockport (88.30), Pekin (87.53) and Tinley Park Andrew (84.60).
At the IHSA sectional and state competitions each team is allowed to choose from the three dance categories consisting of jazz, lyrical or hip hop. For the Tigers they chose to perform their lyrical dance which paid off great dividends for them in the end.
“Breathe Me” by Sia is the song that the Tigers perform their lyrical dance routine to which features voice overs of a girl getting bullied at school that creates a moving feel for the audience.
“We wanted to do a dance that some people would be able to relate to,” Northcutt said. “This way we could really move the judges and the crowd as well.”
The Tigers have high hopes this weekend for their first trip to IHSA state and will be sure to make it a moment they won’t forget.
“I am really proud to be captain of this team and I’m lucky to be able to finish my senior year going to IHSA state,” senior dancer Katie Maxwell said. “I think we have all worked really hard to push ourselves to making it this far and I can’t wait to see to see all of our dedication and time pay off.”
