(Photo by Steve Rackley)

Off the Field: Tigerettes Take Top Hip Hop Honors at Lee’s Summit North

The Republic dance team picked up three awards at the Lee’s Summit North Invitational Saturday. The Tigerettes finished first in Hip Hop, took third in Mix, and won Outstanding Choreography for their Hip Hop routine.

Coach Andrea Sorrell said the success was an outgrowth of team members’ attitude towards each other.

“I believe the strongest attribute of this team is our collective motivation. Everyone is committed to each other’s success,” Sorrell said. “They work hard for their teammates because they genuinely want to see one another thrive. We set goals and consistently push each other to achieve them. Every day, we show up with a positive attitude, ready to grow and embrace constructive feedback.”

For the dancers, success in Hip Hop meant overcoming a compressed practice schedule. With less time to perfect the routine than their Mix performance, the team wasn’t sure what to expect.

“We have had this dance a significantly shorter amount of time than our Mix routine, so I think we were all a little nervous with how it would go,” senior Presley Peck said. “We were pleasantly surprised with the outcome. We had the best performance of Hip Hop yet. We were able to hit our three group tricks and took home a first place trophy.”

Competition routines and halftime performances at football and basketball games require a different mental approach. The Tigerettes use game performances to sharpen their routines for competition season, but the two settings create different pressures.

“A good rule of thumb for performing at halftime is that you want to perform the dance like you are competing it,” Peck said. “The nervousness you have at a game is more so to impress your peers or the people within your community, where when you are at a competition you focus specifically on what the judges want to see.”

At competitions, one mistake can drop the entire team in the standings. That reality changes how dancers prepare.

“There is also a lot more pressure to do well for your team at competitions since a mess-up could cost your team a specific placement,” Peck said. “I try to focus and envision all the small corrections and details we talk about when cleaning and reviewing our dances before I go out to compete.”

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