By Libby Faust

The past weekend was the last regular season football game hosted right here, at Wartburg College. While the football team really outdid themselves, winning their third- straight American Rivers Conference Championship and 20th in program history, the Wartburg Dance team also had an outstanding performance.

Every home football game, the Wartburg Dance team (comprised of 19 athletes) performs on the sidelines alongside the cheerleaders, and at the halftime performance. This performance was especially unique because it was “senior night” for everyone involved.

The halftime performance put on by the dance team was choreographed by senior, Reagan Brooks. The rest of the four seniors were put in the front of the formation with special orange pom-poms while the rest of the team had signature white ones.

Allison Taylor, a junior on the dance team says that “The performance went super well this past weekend, we have put in a lot of hard work leading up to this big game.” Leading up to games the dance team will learn their choreography early in the week, and perform it a few days later.

Allison says, “Usually leading up to a performance like for football season we spend practice on Sunday and Monday learning choreography for the game that week, and then will spend Wednesday and Thursday practices cleaning and reviewing the routine to make sure that everyone knows the dance.” She continues to say that for State and bigger competitions they add in more practice to make sure their performances are the best. Have you ever wondered who typically is responsible for choreographing the routines? Alison says, “For the most part all choreo is done by our coach or captains. Our captains Margaret VanSpeybroeck and Reagan Brooks typically choreograph halftime dances, and for competitions, we hire choreographers to come in and teach the dance. Throughout the period of cleaning the dances the entire team is able to provide insight and ideas they would like to contribute to the dance.”

As you can tell, the dance team is a tight-knit group. When Allison was asked how being a part of the dance team helped you grow as a dancer and as a person, she had this to say, “I feel like the dance team has provided me with numerous different opportunities to learn more about myself. Through the dance team, I’ve learned that I am capable of so much more than I thought I was. Through the encouragement of my teammates and coach, I have learned that I am capable of being a strong dancer and person and that hard work truly does pay off. I have also been able to greatly improve my time management skills due to having a busier schedule, which I believe will be a valuable asset even when I am done with college.”

Next time, you go to a Wartburg football game, be sure to watch the Dance Team and remember how hard they work, and what goes into the dances they perform. For more information visit https://go-knights.net/sports/dance-team