Wildcat Dance Invite returns a sense of normalcy after Covid-crazed campaign
The annual Wildcat Dance Invitational took place on Saturday, January 9 for dance teams from all around the state of Wisconsin. Nineteen teams ranging from divisions one through six entered Wildcat territory for one of the last competitions building up to regionals. Despite there being various other invitationals throughout the state hosted during the same weekend, the Germantown High School varsity dance team chose to attend the Wildcat invite.
“I am a West dance team alumni, so it’s good to give back to my old team,” Germantown Head Coach Chelsea Lovell said.
As West typically hosts a number of loyal attendees, they always enjoy seeing familiar faces each year, especially alumni.
The West dance team prepared for this competition for almost three months by promoting registration through their social media platforms and brainstorming ideas for the most optimal, exciting way to put on the invite.
In the nights leading up to the big day, hours of exhausting work were devoted to cleaning and decorating the gyms, hallways, and classrooms. Preparation like this called for all hands on deck as parents, siblings, teachers, and student volunteers came together to make the event possible.
Sophomore dancer Kendall Larson felt prepared for the last minute responsibilities needed to prepare for the full day of competition.
“Preparing the classrooms and other things needed for the teams seemed to run pretty smoothly,” she said. “It wasn’t as chaotic compared to what the coach and volunteers had to handle.”
As with orchestrating any grand school event, the team was certainly presented with some hurdles to overcome.
Senior Marcella Rennert discovered unique challenges that the team of dancers and volunteers were faced with.
“There was a lot of scrambling at the last minute due to Covid taking out volunteers,” she said. “There was also some confusion since a majority of the dancers had only been around for one invite, or this was their first.”
On the morning of the event, final preparations were completed as teams were scheduled to begin rolling in at 6:30 am in time for the solo and duet performances to kick off the day at 8:00 am.
Despite having to be such an early riser, freshman Lucy Whitcomb enjoyed the excitement still buzzing among dance team members.
“Being a freshman and only in my first year of dance team at West, I really looked forward to this year’s invite,” she said. “I also had a lot of fun at the two competitions we went to prior (Ashwaubenon and Little Chute), so I was very excited to finally be a part of the team hosting the competition.”
Larson enjoys the excitement of dance competitions after a year of irregular competition.
“I really enjoy seeing the teams get excited to compete and perform,” she said.
Larson adds that the concessions deeply add to the enthusiasm of all in attendance.
”As for keeping the energy high for the spectators and other teams, vendors like Maui Wowi and Your Favorite Concessions make the competition so much better,” she said. “Many local businesses like Rocky’s Pizza, Rose Subs, and even the Wildcat Cafe provided many of the community’s favorite snacks.”
The West dancers performed their division one pom and kick routine for exhibition at their scheduled times after 10:00 and 11:00 am, and during the awards portion, Larson placed first with her solo routine.
Rennert finds both positives and negatives of a home invite.
“Even though as a team we can’t place at our own invite, it’s always nice to receive feedback from the judges on how we can improve our routines to strive to do better,” she said.
As for the other teams getting to attend a smaller-scale competition like this one, many of them treated that opportunity differently.
“We don’t really have anyone in our division, so we are using this more for a reset competition from Christmas break,” Lovell said.
While the West Invitational didn’t have an outstanding registration list this year, Rennert appreciates the overall benefit of hosting such a competition.
“The invite is exciting to me because of the money that helps fund our team to be able to buy things like new costumes, '' she said.
By Morgan Reitz
Oshkosh West Index Volume 118 Issue 4
January 31st, 2022