Dance teams set to host Invitational for first meet of season
Sports | Published on November 25, 2024 at 2:34pm CST
The Minnewaska Area dance teams are set to open up the season, Friday, Dec. 6 at the Minnewaska Area Invitational.
The dance teams just missed out on a trip to state last year after placing fourth in both the High Kick and Jazz competitions at last year’s Section 2A Dance Meet at NLS High School.
St. Cloud Cathedral and Holdingford earned the two top two spots in both disciplines, while NLS claimed third place to edge out the Lakers both times.
SCC and Holdingford went on to earn the Class A state titles in High Kick and Jazz, respectively.
The Lakers had earned trips to state for four-straight years as the Jazz team qualified to state in 2019-20, both squads made it to state in 2020-21 and again in 2021-22 and the Jazz team also earned a state berth in 2022-23.
The Minnewaska Invitational is the only home meet for the dancers this year. The teams have 10 meets scheduled during the regular season before competing at the Section 2A Meet at NLS, Saturday, Feb. 8 and hopefully, again at state one week later.
The dance teams are coached by Tana Ziesmer with assistance from Morgan Kaufman and Mikiya Smith,
The dance teams did win one competition last season as both teams were first at the 6-team BBE Invitational early in the season.
The High-Kick team was also second at the Minnewaska Invitational and third in four other meets, while the Jazz team also placed fourth in four competitions last season.
The dance teams lost five seniors from last year’s team due to graduation, Makenna Swalla, Kia Matt, Cacee Danielson, Anna Uecker and Brianna Erickson.
The dance teams will be competing in Section 2A again this season after competing in Section 4A two winters ago. Section 2A includes ACGC, BBE-Paynesville, Holdingford, Litchfield, Melrose Area, NLS, Osakis and Sauk Centre, among other schools.
• Earning All-Conference for the Minnewaska Area High Kick dance team in 2023-24 were Anna Uecker, Makenna Swalla, Cacee Danielson and Kia Matt, while McKenna Uhde was named to the honorable mention team.
For the Jazz team, Kia Matt and Cacee Danielson were both named to the All-Conference team and Anna Uecker earned honorable mention.
