On Feb. 24, the Escadrille dance team headed downtown St. Louis to compete at their State competition. Escadrille took home two State trophies, first for their mix routine and fourth for their hip-hop routine.
Different from other State competitions, this one is organized by the Missouri State Dance Team Association (MDTA), not the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSSAA).
Head Coach Katie Whiteside said, “The MDTA divides the competitors by school size and then again by style of dance. The divisions (much like MSHAA) are 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, and 6A. Each of those divisions then includes categories of jazz, mix, hip hop, pom, kick and prop.”
Escadrille competed in two different categories: mix which is a combination of poms, jazz and kick as well as in the hip-hop category. Both dances are in the 6A division.
The dances are scored by four judges and given a score up to 100. Each routine has its own criteria for which the judges looks for to give out the top marks.
Whiteside said, “For mix, teams are evaluated on their appearance as a team, choreography, technique/execution of the dance, synchronization as a team and the overall general effect of the dance. For hip hop, teams are evaluated on their appearance as a team, choreography, synchronization, group technique, communication/projection to the audience and the overall general effect.”
Overall the judges are really particular of what they are looking for and it all depends on the team and their performance.
The girls choreograph the dances with help from Whiteside and also mix their own music. Their mix routine was choreographed by team officers and seniors Jessica Carlson, Laura McGuire, MacKenzie Schwietz and Maria Tocco. The hip-hop dance was choreographed by Carlson, Schwietz and Tocco as well as sophomores Delaney Glazer and Allison Token. Glazer and Token also made the music mix.
Ecadrille has been preparing for the State competition all year, having practice from 3:20-5:30 p.m. every day and even some days before school.
“Because they [the Escadrille team] performs at events over the summer and at football and basketball games, Escadrille never stops,” Whiteside said then added, “Preparation for State is a year-long process that takes great dedication to the team.”
As captain it’s senior Maria Tocco’s job to make sure the girls are doing the absolute best and pushing them to achieve that.
“I’d give them good critiques when they were doing really well and tell them what they needed to fix,” Tocco said then explained further, “For every three or four bad critiques, I’d give them a good one, to keep their spirits up. I would over motivate them to get them to do what they needed.”
After winning first in the Lindbergh Competition for their mix routine, the team was feeling pretty confident about their status going into State. Tocco made sure that the team didn’t just pride themselves on the first win, but kept working for the next one.
“After getting first the team kind of just rested on their morals and we couldn’t do that because we needed to work even harder. I compared us to the other teams at State and told the girls to think about how hard they’re going to work because we already got first so they are going to want to beat us,” Tocco said.
With that said, all of the team’s hardwork paid off.
Tocco couldn’t be happier for her and her fellow teammates saying it was the best night of her life.
“Winning was almost unreal, it was like a dream because not only did we win, but it was my senior year, I was captain and had helped the girls achieve it. It was the best moment of my life and by far senior year,” Tocco said.
She added, “To see the other girls’ faces when we won, all holding hands, red faced and sweating because we were so nervous to see the results, then they finally called our name and we all screamed and cheered.”
Try outs for Escadrille season 2012-2013 start at the end of March.
