I have been coaching the Dance Team since the 2010-2011 school year. I started off coaching one year at the assistant coach, and have been the head coach ever since.
We have two distinct types of Dance Teams. One team, the team that I work more closely with, dances in the style of Hip Hop, Pom, and Pop styles of dance. When this team attends competition, they perform in the Hip Hop category. The second team that we have at North is the Technical Dance Team, which requires each dancer to be more highly trained in technical skills compared to the Hip Hop Team. This team dances in the styles of Jazz, Pom, and Lyrical, and they either compete in the Jazz or Lyrical category, depending on the style of their competition routine each year. Both teams usually practice at the same time (almost daily), but each team performs at different games, equally splitting the boys and girls home basketball games. We also cheer on the sidelines for these games, and our season continues as long as there are home basketball games (through playoffs).
The Dance Team program has tryouts in front of professional judges, usually taking place in (or around) the second week of November. YOU MUST BE PRESENT AT TRYOUTS IN ORDER TO QUALIFY FOR ONE OF THE DANCE TEAMS. (Extenuating circumstances may warrant a video tryout, but this is reserved for emergency situations such as sudden illness on the day of the tryout performance. Scheduling a vacation during tryouts does not qualify a dancer for a video tryout, as per the instructions from the Athletic Director.)
If you have any other questions about the Dance Team (which is listed as “Basketball Cheerleading” or “Cheer-Dance” on Aspen), please email me at nmeister@nhvweb.net